


Napoleon

by MrsSonBreigh



Series: KakaVege Week January 2018 [16]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Accents, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - High School, Anal Fingering, Beaches, Bisexual Male Character, Blow Jobs, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Bullying, Car Sex, Detention, Developing Relationship, Driving, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, F/M, Fights, Fist Fights, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gay Sex, Genderbending, Gentle Kissing, Gentleness, Guilt, Happy Ending, Height Differences, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Horses, Kissing, Late October, Literal Sleeping Together, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Minor Injuries, Muscles, Neck Kissing, Oral Sex, Past Relationship(s), Protective Older Brothers, Protective Siblings, Rough Body Play, Rough Kissing, Sacrifice, Semi-Public Sex, Separation Anxiety, Sex Toys, Shared Classes, Shyness, Surprise Kissing, Tags Are Hard, Trucks, Young Love, foreign exchange student Vegeta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 07:10:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13266339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsSonBreigh/pseuds/MrsSonBreigh
Summary: Oh boy.





	1. Monday, October 16th

**Author's Note:**

> For KakaVege week!  
> January 4, Realistic

“Alright, class. As is the routine, every year we get a new round of foreign exchange students. So I’d like to introduce you to Vegeta. Come on in, son,”

Mr. Popo patted Vegeta on the back as he strolled in, hands in his pockets and a thin notebook and pen tucked under his arm.

“Vegeta here is from Switzerland, one of the smartest countries in the world, so if you don’t want him to outshine you, I suggest you up your game in class, understood?”

The whole room groaned in reluctant consent.

The teacher nodded to himself, and pointed to a seat in the rough middle of the room, “Feel free to sit there kiddo,” He clapped his hands, pointing to the board and droning on, losing the class’ attention immediately.

Vegeta heard mumbles as he made his way back to the desk, but chose to ignore them when he heard a group of girls in the corner giggle to themselves. 

_‘Idiotic Americans,’_ He thought to himself, _‘Why couldn’t I have transferred somewhere notable, like Japan or India?’_

Pretending as if he hadn’t already been taught this lecture since grade school, he took neat notes in his little book, handwriting pristine and sectioned off by subtopic. He was having a relaxing, almost pleasant time until a meaty finger tapped on his shoulder. He took a moment to calm his temper before tilting his head to tip the kid off that he was listening.

“So you’re, like, real smart ‘n stuff, ain’cha?” He whispered. Vegeta had noted before he sat down that this particular student had been dressed like he was going to his job as a farmhand rather than to school.

Deciding to not verbally respond, Vegeta only nodded, he didn’t want to make a bad impression with the teacher. In his mind, that was the only relationship he needed to maintain in this hellhole for the next year.

The kid uttered an amazed gasp, “Ah’ve never met a Swedish person before,”

Vegeta bristled, he really hoped the average student was much more capable than this imbecile.

“Hey, uh, ya got clouds o’er there in Switz’land?”

Vegeta had to fight to not whirl around and smack the kid upside the head. _‘How stupid can people be?!’_ , he mused.

“Goku Son! This is the third time you’ve interrupted my class! Once more and I’ll send you out, understood?” 

The kid, Goku, squeaked out a ‘Yes, sir,’ and finally shut his mouth, allowing Vegeta to pay attention for the rest of the hour in blissful silence. 

After the lecture had ended, Mr. Popo pulled Vegeta to the side to ask him a few questions.

“So, remind me of who your host family is again?”

Vegeta straightened up, “Trunks Briefs is my host brother.”

Mr. Popo nodded, “Ah, yes. I didn’t see him this morning. Is he helping you out?”

“He fell ill last night and had to stay home. His sister Bulma showed me around before class.” He shifted his notebook from one arm to the other.

“Oh, Bulma. Smart girl, she is. Whatever you need, I assure you that she’s trustworthy enough to help you out.”

Vegeta nodded turned to leave, “I’ll take your advice into consideration, professor, thank you.”

Mr. Popo held his hand out, “Well, Vegeta, I ask because I was wondering if you’d be willing to transfer.”

“Transfer?”

He nodded, “Goku Son, the boy you sit in front of, is in desperate need of companionship and a positive influence. As you saw he can be quite…” He searched for a polite word, “Disruptive.”

Vegeta cringed at the thought of having to live with him, “I noticed.”

“Quite. If you’re at all interested, I’ll contact the Briefs family for you and set everything up. It won’t be that much of a change because the year has just started, but, Vegeta,” He gave Vegeta a begging look, “He needs someone like you. I’d love to see his character get turned around into something more positive.”

Vegeta nodded, “I’ll think about it, professor.”

“Thank you, Vegeta.”

He left, out to the hall, only to be impeded by a few tall boys.

“Hey, Zarbon, look. It’s the Swiss faggot.” A rather large boy with a rosy face and crew cut elbowed his friend and pointed down to Vegeta. Zarbon laughed.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard all about you, pretty boy,” Zarbon leaned down all too close for Vegeta’s liking, “They almost didn’t let you come, ‘cause you like dick in your ass, doncha? That’s why you chose to live with Trunks, huh? He’s a real cutie, doncha think?”

Vegeta took a deep breath to sate his temper. It did much less than he would have hoped.

“My sexual orientation has nothing to do with whom I picked as my host family. I chose Trunks because we have similar extracurricular interests.”

“Oh, yeah, _extracurricular_ ,” Zarbon guffawed, spraying saliva all over the place, “What do you say we teach pretty boy what we do to faggots here, Dodoria?”

Dodoria cracked his sausagey fingers, “With gusto.”

He advanced on Vegeta’s smaller frame but never made it, as too stained workboots came flying at him from the side, filled by a flustered and clearly angry Goku. 

Dodoria fell to the ground in a jiggly heap and Goku popped up, brushing himself off. After collecting himself, he rounded on Zarbon, who had clearly shit himself at the sight of his entry.

“You leave him alone!” He spoke clearly, Vegeta noticed, that drawl from earlier was heavily dissipated by determination, “He didn’t do anything to you! If I see you botherin’ him again Imma whoop your ass to next Sunday, got it!?”

Zarbon nodded nervously and went to help Dodoria up, who had a clear boot-tread shaped bruise already forming on his cheek.

“Goku Son!”

Goku hesitated, his shoulders hunching, “Uh oh.”

“In my office immediately! You too, Vegeta!”

Vegeta sighed. His first day here and he was already at the mercy of the school’s disciplinary system. He followed Goku in tow to the office.

They sat down next to each other in the two comfy chairs stationed in the principal's office. He folded his hands over his mahogany desk, sighing deeply.

“Son, honestly. We’re hardly a month into the school year and you’re already picking fights? How many times is this, now? Three?” He shuffled through some papers, “At this rate, you’ll break your record of ten fights in your sophomore year in no time,”

Unable to find words, Goku sat with his hands in his lap, blushing furiously with a frustrated pout on his lips.

“What do you expect me to do with you, Son? I can’t expel you, you know that? Are you taking advantage of your parent’s generosity?”

Vegeta shook his head and crossed his legs, one knee over the other, “In all fairness, Mr. Yemma, if Son hadn’t stepped in in my defense then you would have two referrals to handle. If anything, he’s done you a favor,”

Goku popped his head up, gazing at Vegeta with a flattered smile.

“I was about to get my ass handed to me by a few punks, but he stopped them.” Vegeta sighed, ‘And now I owe _him_ a favor.’ He thought.

Mr. Yemma sighed, “As much as I want to believe your story, Vegeta, Son has a history,” He smacked the papers on the desk, “A _long_ history of picking fights. I can’t just ignore this.”

“But you can ignore the fact that those assholes are getting off scot-free? What kind of asinine bullshit _is_ the American education system?!” Vegeta stood, slamming his hands down on the desk hard enough for a pencil tin to fall over and spill pens all over the floor.

Mr. Yemma let out a deep breath, “Well, that settles it. After school detention for both of you. Until Wednesday, understood? Now get out of my office.”

Goku stood first, used to such punishments, but Vegeta was left to gawk like a fish. Goku stopped at the doorway, giving Vegeta a sympathetic look before reaching out and pulling him from the office by his wrist.

Pulled from his shock, Vegeta blustered to himself, unsure of what to say. Goku patted him firmly on the back.

“Don’ worry too much ‘bout it, ‘kay? Ah’ll show ya ‘round later, but if we don’ go soon we’ll be late.”

Vegeta shook his head and glanced at the schedule he had taped to the back of his book, “I have to go to Trig.”

Goku smiled, “Me too! Let’s go.” He grabbed Vegeta’s wrist again and dragged him up the stairs to their next shared class.

Vegeta followed, still slightly annoyed with the kid, but some of his idiocy was forgiven for saving his tail earlier.

They walked into the classroom five seconds before the bell rang over the intercom, and Goku sat down at his normal spot, leaving Vegeta to figure things out for himself.

“Ah, you must be the other exchange student. Have a seat right over there, would you? Then we can get right to the lecture.”

Vegeta sat at the desk she pointed out and saw as Goku deflated a bit at the distance between them. To see him, Vegeta would have to look away from the front of the room and be obviously not paying attention, but Goku could look at him uninhibited. It hardly seemed fair.

Thankfully, the hour went by without Goku making much of an idiot of himself. Vegeta was thankful, as Ms. Snake seemed to be unforgiving at best. 

Intimidated, Vegeta hurried out of the classroom as quickly as he could once the bell rung. He made his way to the east wing stairs to go to the basement for gym, but stopped as a heavy arm slung over his shoulder and Goku spoke loudly right down into his face.

“What class ya got now, best buddy?”

Vegeta grimaced and shrugged the weathered arm away from him, “First of all, I'm not your buddy. Second of all, I'm going to gym. Frankly, if we share that block as well I may throw a fit.”

Goku entirely ignored Vegeta's half-insults and whined, “Aw, Ah got chem. Do ya got third lunch? Ya can sit with me an’ my friends.”

Vegeta groaned and shoved Goku off once again when they reached the stairs, “I won't be sitting with you _or_ your friends during lunch. Now if you'll excuse me.”

Goku let go of him and watched as Vegeta descended the stairs to the basement. With a happy sigh, he turned around and went off to the science wing.

 

After gym, Vegeta climbed the single flight of stairs to the cafeteria. He planned on sitting in the hall alone, no one but Bulma had he gotten along with yet, and she had lunch the hour before. With a heavy sigh, he slid down the wall and onto the grimy floor. Without food to eat, he distracted himself with doodling in his notebook. The school day was already more than half over, and Vegeta found himself longing to go home. 

Then he remembered that he had to stay until five for detention. He leaned back to smack his head into the tiles on the wall. 

An extra three hours with Goku sounded like hell on earth to Vegeta. And what was worse, there were bound to be plenty of other delinquents all around to irritate him. 

“Hey, ‘Geta!”

He groaned to himself, “Hello, Son.”

“Why doncha come sit with me? All ma friends‘re real nice!” Goku stood with his hands on his hips, cocking his head to the right side. 

Vegeta debated with himself for a minute before deciding that inside the cafeteria was most likely a bit cleaner than the hall floor. With a grunt he stood, holding his notebook between his chin and neck as he brushed his rear of dirt. 

“I suppose.”

He followed Goku through the crowded room, walking sideways through heaving bodies and pulling his shoe forcefully off a sticky part of the stone tiled floor.

“Scoot, Yamcha, would ya? Got a new friend.”

The boy named Yamcha shifted one seat to the left, to make room for Vegeta. He quietly thanked him and sat next to Goku, who promptly went counterclockwise around the circular table to introduce everyone. 

“‘Geta,” He pointed, “This is Tien, his girlfriend Launch, Chichi, her boyfriend Piccolo, Krillin, and that’s Yamcha,” He set his hands in his lap and looked excitedly at Vegeta. 

Vegeta mentally went around the circle again, repeating the names to himself. If he was going to spend a year at this school, he figured that he may as well get familiar with some people. He nodded.

“Everyone this is-”

“Vegeta, the Swiss fag.” Krillin cut him off.

“Hey! You don’t call him that!” Goku was instantly angry.

Krillin held his hands out, “All Ah’m sayin’ is that everyone’s talkin’ ‘bout him. After you kicked Dodoria’s shit in this morning him and Zarbon have been tellin’ everyone that yer datin’.”

Goku was silent for a moment before twisting around in his seat to glare over at Dodoria and Zarbon’s table. He spotted them laughing about something, but as soon as they caught his gaze, they shut up and hunched in their seats.

“No one should be spreadin’ rumors like that.”

Tien, sitting to Goku’s right, smacked his shoulder, “C’mon, Son. It’s no big deal, you can jus’ beat ‘em up again.”

Goku shook his head vigorously, “No, Ah’m gonna try to not get into any more fights,” The table fell quiet. Everyone knew how much Goku loved fighting. He sighed, “Ah got Vegeta in trouble, too. Ah don’t mind it maself, but Ah don’t want to ruin what he’s got goin’ for ‘imself.” He looked over guiltily to his left. Vegeta flushed a bit.

“I really don’t mind, Son. I don’t carry my records back to Switzerland with me. I figure…” He paused, looking around the table. Everyone was listening to him, something he wasn’t too used to. It filled him with a strange happiness and sense of belonging, “I figure I may as well have fun while it doesn’t count against me.”

Goku brightened up, but quickly noticed Vegeta’s lack of food, “Where’s yer lunch?”

Vegeta shrugged at the empty space on the table in front of him, “I was tending to Trunks this morning and didn’t have time to prepare myself any food, and because I just got here, my lunch account isn’t set up yet,” Goku stayed quiet, and it unnerved Vegeta, “I can go a while without food, it’s not a big deal.”

Goku sighed, “D’ya eat breakfast?”

Vegeta thought to himself for a moment, “No, not this morning, at least.”

Goku took an even deeper sigh, “Vegeta, yer not gonna be home until night time, ya can’t spend all day with no food.”

“Nevermind it, Son. I’ll be fine.” Vegeta waved him off. 

“No! Yer gonna eat lunch even if Ah gotta force ya. Here.” He slid his untouched lunch over to Vegeta, who shoved it back.

“Leave it, Son.”

Goku frowned and furrowed his brow for a minute, “Is it ‘cause ya don’t want me to miss lunch, either?”

Vegeta shrugged. He hadn’t given it much thought, all he knew was that he didn’t want to take Goku’s food, “I suppose.”

Goku remained quiet for a moment before shoving himself out of his seat and lumbering across the room and out of Vegeta’s sight. Vegeta was concerned, to say the least. Had he angered Goku? He was unnerved at that thought, maybe Goku was already growing on him a bit.

After a few tense minutes of silence, the seven of them traded glances.

Goku came stomping back over, a completely new lunch in his grip. He set it down in front of Vegeta and allowed no time for argument before taking his original lunch and shoveling it down his gullet. 

He looked to Krillin for guidance, he seemed to know Goku the best. Krillin just smirked and jutted his jaw out to the tray in front of him. 

Glancing back at Goku, who was already half finished, he decided that he may as well take the offer. It would be rude to refuse the food after he had gone out of his way to fetch it for him. He ate quickly, trying his best to not be the last one with a meal. 

Happily full, he quietly thanked Goku, who just smiled warmly at him. 

The lunch period ended not long after, and Goku asked Vegeta where his next class would be.

He checked his schedule, “Looks like History. What about you?” That was the first time Vegeta expressed interest in Goku’s classes, and it made him beam.

“Ah’m in Economics next, but the classrooms are right down the hall from each other. Ah can walk ya, if ya’d like me to.” Goku hiked his bag onto his shoulder, looking down at Vegeta with a strangely gentle expression.

“Hm,” Vegeta thought for a moment. What was the harm? “Sure, I guess.”

“Alright! Let’s go, then,” Goku led Vegeta down the hall and to a back staircase, trekking up two flights to the top floor. They both huffed a bit, stairs were a bitch for everyone. 

They kept walking down the hallway, and Vegeta noticed that people seemed to part like the Red Sea in Goku’s path. He chalked it up to his fighting history and walked a bit closer to him. Something told him that as long as he was with Goku, he wouldn’t have to worry about a repeat of first block’s fiasco. 

Goku dropped Vegeta off at his classroom, giving him a gentle wave goodbye before moving two doors down to his class. 

Vegeta sighed, another block without Goku was going to prove to be boring. Even though the idiot was loud and borderline rude, it was funny to see him in action. 

He took notes, just like In English and Trig, but History definitely held his attention far more than the others. This was American history, and he hadn’t had those lectures back home. He was learning new things. 

About halfway through the hour there was a loud thud and clattering down the hall, and despite himself, Vegeta smiled a little. Everyone giggled quietly.

“There goes Son, that son of a bitch.” Launch laughed to herself and continued writing her notes. 

Everyone resumed the lesson, seeming to be quite used to Goku’s rowdy behavior. Vegeta continued to grin to himself as he imagined what in the world Goku must’ve done to cause such a racket. He found it hard to concentrate on the rest of the lesson, and his handwriting became messy as he rushed to keep up. 

He was still chuckling to himself as the bell rang and he left to meet Goku in the hall. He saw that the big oaf was still a bit red in the face from whatever had happened.

Vegeta crossed his arms with a sly grin, Goku laughed at his questioning expression and rubbed his neck. He explained simply, “Ah fell.”

The bluntness made Vegeta fall into another fit of contained giggles, “What, from a _tree_?”

Goku blushed deeper, “No, Ah was standing on my desk, Whis needed something from high up and Ah was the tallest, so I helped… Or tried to, at least.”

“Whis?”

“Yeah, he’s the teacher. Ah’ve known him for years, since he’s the detention supervisor. He’s real nice to me, even though Ah’m a dummy...” He trailed off, absentmindedly walking through the halls with Vegeta at his side, “What’s yer last class?”

Vegeta had prepared his answer before leaving the History room, “I have a study hall. Those are in the cafeteria, right?”

Goku nodded, “Ah’m in there too. Issa pretty quiet one. Other days it feels like e’rybody got study hall.”

They went down the same steps they climbed the hour before, coming into the cafeteria, which looked entirely different from earlier. Floors were mopped and tables were wiped down, everything actually looked sanitary. This gave Vegeta a little bit of comfort. 

Coming in, he headed to a table that sat closer to the wall so he could lean into it a bit and rest his back. He sighed and closed his eyes as his rear met the seat. 

Goku sat a few seats away from him, pulling a thick, clearly unorganized folder from his bag. He flipped through the miscellaneous pages before pulling a few out and setting them neatly on the table. He stacked them in order of most to least urgent, and got to work, chewing the eraser of his pencil all the while. 

Vegeta watched him out of the corner of his eye. Goku seemed to be having trouble with his arithmetic. Vegeta peered over to see that it was the same lesson they had both received that morning. He scooted over the two seats separating them and took the pencil from Goku’s lips. 

Goku watched in awe as Vegeta wrote the proper formulas down on each question to help him get started. When the smaller boy set the pencil back against Goku’s mouth, he thanked him shyly and began his work.

Inspired by seeing Goku’s homework out, Vegeta took out the papers he had accumulated and quickly filled them out. Halfway through the stack though, he paused. If he did all this now, then he would have nothing to do during detention. He sighed and neatly slid the papers back into the cover of his notebook. Goku gave him a quick glance.

“Tired?”

Vegeta shook his head, “I have to spend another three hours here, I may as well keep some work to do,”

Goku chuckled.

“What?”

Goku laughed a bit louder, setting his pencil down, “Detention is definitely not what ya think it is. Whis pretty much lets us do whatever we want. One time we had a big monopoly game going. It lasted four weeks.”

Vegeta shook his head, “Americans are weird.” To which Goku vigorously nodded his head. Vegeta laughed.

“So just get yer work done while there’s nothin’ fun to do. Then we can go to the room ‘n have a party.”

Without responding, Vegeta took his papers out again and finished them up. The block was only half over, and Goku was still having trouble with the Trig assignment. 

“What’s giving you a hard time?”

Goku growled to himself, burying his thick hands in his hair, “These damn functions. None of it makes sense at all!”

Vegeta moved closer again, leaning over Goku’s shoulder to see his paper, “Look, you’re putting the amplitude where the period goes. Here, switch them.” Goku did as Vegeta instructed, erasing and replacing the numbers with each other. Vegeta stayed quiet for a moment, waiting for Goku to try and figure it out himself. 

After a minute, Goku began placing and labeling points on the faintly printed graph, and connected them with a smooth curved line. He looked to Vegeta for approval, who studied the work for a moment before nodding with a grin.

Vegeta helped Goku out with his work for the remainder of the block, simplifying the theories into terms that made sense to the dull boy. Goku thanked him profusely every time he reached a conclusion that made his life a little easier. 

When the final bell rang, Goku all but stuffed the papers back into the nearly bursting folder, no doubt wrinkling them. Shoving the folder back into his bag, he slung it over his shoulder and grabbed onto Vegeta’s wrist, dragging him to the second floor.

Before walking into the student services office, Goku slowed his pace and took a deep breath to calm himself. It never looked right to be excited about after-school punishment, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. He let go of Vegeta’s wrist and pushed the door open, greeting the receptionist before veering to the left, into what appeared to be a conference room. 

Whis already sat inside, at the head of the table with a thick book in his hands. He greeted Goku as he waltzed in, but paused at Vegeta, looking as if he was searching for a name he couldn’t place.

“Vegeta.” Goku assisted. 

“Ah, yes, the Swiss boy. What in the world have you done to get yourself in here?” Whis stuck a bright pink page flag against the book so it stuck out at the place he left off. 

“I defended this idiot.” He jabbed a thumb in Goku’s direction. Whis smiled and shook his head.

“And what did _you_ do?” He stood and placed his fists on his hips. Goku rubbed his neck sheepishly. 

“Ah may have side fly kicked Dodoria in the head,” Whis gave him a disapproving look and stared pointedly at his boots, “Ah only did it cause he was gonna beat Vegeta up! You know Ah don’t start fights unless someone else ‘s in danger.”

Whis nodded knowingly, “Very noble, Son, but you should really learn to handle things without violence.”

Goku plopped himself into one of the plushy spin chairs that sat around the table. He pouted, “Not to be rude, Whis, but Dodoria ‘s stupid as all hell, ain’t no talkin’ sense to him. There wasn’t time to do anythin’ other than to knock his block off.”

Whis nodded in reluctant agreement, still smirking with amusement. He checked the paper that sat on the computer desk on the opposite side of the room, “Yeah, looks like it’s just you two today. Should be easy enough. I’m going to continue my book if you don’t mind making do with talking quietly with each other.”

Goku saluted Whis playfully, spinning around in his chair. Despite his size, the gesture made him look like a child. Vegeta shook his head with a smile and sat down next to him, setting his notebook square on the table before swiveling back and forth, but not completely around. He looked into Goku’s eyes every time his face reappeared, and before long he couldn’t help but giggle to himself. 

Goku stopped spinning and swayed a bit while steadying himself, and he flashed Vegeta a bright grin, “Whaddya wanna do?”

Vegeta shrugged and pulled his beeping phone from his pocket. Shit. Trunks and Bulma were already asking why he wasn’t home. He forgot to tell them.

He quickly texted them back in a group chat, letting them know that he’d be home in a few hours and that he was safe. They replied relieved, and Vegeta nodded to himself before pocketing it again.

“I guess we could just talk.”

Instead of playing board games like Vegeta thought they would, they spent the extra three hours talking about themselves and learning about each other. Vegeta explained the transfer process, what he went through and all the paperwork he did to get into the country. 

He also learned that the only reason Goku wasn’t expelled from Orange Star was that his parents were the biggest donors in the county, and the school would suffer if they lost those contributions. 

“You didn’t hit me as the rich kid type,” Vegeta said suspiciously. Goku shrugged, rolling his eyes.

“Ah’m not, really. Ah work for myself. After Ah turned sixteen, Ah refused to live off of my parents' cash anymore. So now they just give me somewhere to sleep.” He started to spin again, telling Vegeta everything like it was no big deal.

Vegeta found that every time Goku spun, he couldn’t help but to spin a little himself, “What do you do for work?”

Goku stuck his hands far in the air, still spinning, “Ah work for Krillin’s uncle on ‘is farm. Tendin’ horses and balin’ hay ‘n junk.”

Vegeta crossed his arms, chuckling, “Why am I not surprised?”

The remainder of the time was spent talking about the rest of Goku’s homework, which he claimed still confused him even after he had done three questions on his own. Vegeta was surprised to find that he didn’t mind repeating himself like he normally would. 

At this point, Vegeta actually found Goku’s idiocy to be kind of charming and funny. Before finishing his work, Goku put it away, packing everything into his frayed bag, “It’s almost time to go.”

Vegeta looked at the analog clock across the room, “That it is.” And straightened out the already organized papers in the cover of his book.

Whis overheard them and marked his place again, closing the book louder than necessary, “You may leave, gentlemen. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Goku saluted him again, “O’ course, Whis.”

Whis waved him off, “Drive safely, Son. It’s already dusk out.”

Goku walked out, holding the door open for Vegeta before leaving himself, “Ah’m gonna guess you ride the buses, huh?” He prodded gently at Vegeta’s shoulder, and strangely, it didn’t bother him much. 

“Unfortunately, yes.” Vegeta muttered, groaning at the thought of enduring that again. 

“Ah can bring ya home if ya want me to. Yer livin’ with Trunks, ain'tcha? He’s not too far from me.” He held the door open for him again, following him outside. It was nippy outside, mid October seemed colder than normal. Vegeta shuddered a bit at the thought of dealing with the inadequate heating of the buses.

“If it isn’t too much trouble.” He looked up at Goku, who was beaming down at him.

“Not at all, ‘Geta. Student parkin’s this way.” He placed an impossibly light hand on Vegeta’s back, leading him to the parking lot behind the east wing. 

After rounding the corner, Goku fished in his pocket for his keys, unlocking it from a distance. A bright blue (incredibly tall) pick up truck lit up, beeping happily. Vegeta looked up to Goku again, and he just shrugged, “Ma parents.”

“Ah,” Vegeta answered stupidly, “It looks nice, at least.”

“Mmh,” Goku opened the passenger side door for him, “After you,”

Vegeta had trouble getting in due to how tall the truck was and how tall he was _not_ , so Goku held out a large hand for him to brace himself on while he pushed himself up. He flashed Vegeta a bright smile before slamming the door and walking around to the driver's side. Vegeta looked on at the seat that seemed to be pushed all the way back for leg room, and Goku pulled himself up a bit to plant himself in it, somehow still looking cramped.

“Jeez, it’s chilly in here,” He twisted the key in the ignition and immediately flicked the heat on, the vents blasting warm air into Vegeta’s face. Thankfully it was enough to calm the nip at the end of his nose. Vegeta buckled himself and nested deep into the cushiony seat.

“To the Satan Gated Community!” Goku shouted as he pressed the stereo on, filling the cab with heavy metal music. Vegeta was taken by surprise, not only at the music choice but by how quiet the radio was in comparison. He didn’t question it as Goku twisted around and backed out of his parking spot. 

They were soon on the road, stopping for the frequent traffic lights around the city. Normally, Vegeta would expect the driver to be annoyed at the constant stopping and starting, but Goku just hummed along and drummed his fingers to the quiet music, gently accelerating as the lights switched green.

Vegeta leaned an elbow in the door rest, gazing out the window at the city whizzing by. 

He started to daydream and lost himself in thought, only to be brought back by the sound of an iron gate swinging open.

“We’re here already?”

Goku nodded, driving slowly down the pristinely paved cul de sac road, “Mhm, it’s only ten minutes from the school, silly. Here we go,” He turned into the Brief’s driveway, unlocking the door for Vegeta, “Make sure ya eat dinner soon, alright? It’s been more than long enough for ya to eat.”

Vegeta hopped down, bending at the knees to break his fall. He threw Goku a friendly wave and closed the door, walking up the long driveway to the heavy front door. He took his spare key and opened it up, slipping quietly inside. 

As he turned around to lock the door again, he saw that Goku was only now pulling out of the driveway. He hoped Goku couldn’t see him staring through the wreath on the door, but he was grateful.

Even though they were in one of the safest gated communities around, Goku waited to make sure Vegeta was inside before leaving. He couldn’t help but smile. He watched for a moment, expecting Goku to leave out the gate again, but instead, he pulled out the opposite direction, heading farther from the gate. He pulled into a house that was across the road, two doors down from the Briefs’. Vegeta stared, confused, until Goku left his car and locked it, swiftly heading into the house.

“Son brought you home, didn’t he?”

Vegeta jumped, slapping a hand against his chest. Bulma laughed.

“Yeah, so what?”

She shook her head, “Oh, nothing,” And walked off with a mocking hand in the air, “Dinner is finished, if you’re hungry.”

Vegeta glowered at her, kicking his shoes off and padding into the dining room. A beautiful pot roast sat in the middle of the table, covered in stuffing and pineapple. Bunny always seemed to go all out with the family meals. 

“Vegeta!” She shouted happily, her eyes closed and her hands in the air, “So happy you’re home, let’s eat, shall we?”

He nodded, silently sitting down at the table. 

They were all in the middle of eating when Trunks made his way down the stairs, gently picking at his own plate.

“Feeling better, Trunksie?” Bunny asked, making Trunks blush a bit.

“Yeah, I think. It might’ve been one of those twenty-four-hour viruses. I’m still feeling a little bad, but it’s a lot better than last night.

“Well, you’re not going to school tomorrow either, kiddo. You don’t need to be infecting anyone else.” Mr. Briefs sucked on his wiry mustache. Trunks nodded.

“I figured I wouldn’t be. I wouldn’t go feeling the way I do now.”

There was another minute of silence as Trunks finally decided to eat. Vegeta was almost finished with his plate when Bulma cleared her throat, “So, Trunks.”

“Mm?” He tried to swallow the unchewed roast but gave up.

“Son drove Vegeta home today.” Bulma eyed him again for a split second before Trunks spluttered.

“What?!” He sprayed saliva all over his plate, eyes going wide. Bulma nodded smugly.

“Yep. Goku Son drove Vegeta home,” Trunks, unable to speak any longer, just looked at his sister with surprise, “I know, right?! You know what this means.”

Vegeta glared at her from across the table, “What does it mean?!”

She chuckled to herself and continued to eat. Mr. Briefs and Bunny seemed to not even notice the conversation going on between the teens. Trunks spoke up, no longer choking.

“I’ll tell you later, Vegeta. It’s… I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

Vegeta eyed him as he stuck the last chunk of pineapple in his mouth. He still glared as he cleared his spot and brought his dishes to the sink. 

He rinsed them and walked back through the dining room to get back to the stairwell. He ignored Bulma’s giggling as he went up, taking the first right into the bathroom the three of them shared.

He took out a towel and stripped down, taking an overly hot shower. Something about Bulma’s demeanor made him nervous. 

The shower ran cold and he hissed, partly at the water, partly at the fact that Trunks would chew him out for using all the hot water. 

He left the bathroom in a rush, heading across the hall to his room. He dressed in loose pajamas, slipping into bed. Though it was only 6 PM, Vegeta found himself drained. He chalked it up to dealing with Goku all day long.

He was about to fall asleep about an hour later when there was a gentle knock at the door.

He groaned, sitting up, “Come in, Trunks.”

Trunks peeked in before slipping through the door and planting himself on the edge of Vegeta’s futon bed. 

“You’re in deep shit.”

Vegeta huffed, throwing his arm over his eyes, “Sorry I used all the water, lost track of myself.

“No, idiot! I don’t give a shit about the shower!” He huffed, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. He probably had a killer headache. Vegeta found a bit of pity for him, “Son drove you home?”

Vegeta propped himself up on his elbows, “Yeah? And?”

Trunks brought his head up, “I know you don’t know Son that well, so you have no idea what this means for you, but he’s only let one other person in his truck before. Ever.”

Vegeta furrowed his brow, “I don’t understand.”

Trunks shook his head, “He only let Chichi in his truck, and that was only once when they were dating.”

“I don’t know what you’re implying.” Vegeta plopped his head back down.

“I’m sayin’ that Son probably likes you! Usually, that would be good, but you’re already a target for the assholes.” He mumbled out the last bit. 

“How do you know about that?”

Trunks shrugged, “My sister is one of the most in-touch people in the school, nothing happens without her knowing, so of course, she told me.” He crossed his arms.

Vegeta couldn’t help but smile, “None of that matters. Son will beat anyone and everyone up for me, he said so.”

Trunks threw his hands in the air, “Well, that seals it! Son has a thing for you!”

“How do you even know he likes guys!?” Vegeta was becoming frustrated. None of what Trunks was telling him made sense. 

“He dated Piccolo last year!” Trunks all but yelled. Vegeta was sure Bulma would be able to hear them in the next room.

“I thought Piccolo is with Chichi!”

“He is!”

“I’m so confused!”

Trunks groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Vegeta stuck his hands out, “Wait, let me get this straight. Son dated Chichi _and_ Piccolo at one point, and now Chichi and Piccolo are dating _each other_ , and they’re all still friends?”

Trunks nodded, not opening his eyes or letting his nose go. 

Vegeta shook his head, “Fuckin’ Americans.”

Trunks nodded again, standing up, “All I’m saying is to pay attention to things, Vegeta. You might find yourself stuck with Son before you even know what that means.” He walked out before Vegeta had a chance to say anything.

He stopped fighting sleep, laying down completely and turning over.


	2. Tuesday, October 17th

In the morning, Vegeta went about his routine, changing, brushing his teeth, and eating breakfast. He left the house with Bulma again, bidding Trunks farewell from the doorway while he was on the couch watching cartoons. 

The two rode the bus in, watching Goku’s blue truck whiz down the road before them. Bulma shot Vegeta a cocky glare, to which he scoffed at. 

He had English first block again, quietly sitting down in front of Goku, who appeared to be finishing his Trig homework.

“Son, you do realize that’s due in an hour, right?”

Goku nodded, “Yeah, but Ah passed out last night before Ah had a chance to do it. It’s not a big deal, ‘Geta. You helped me yesterday, so now Ah know what Ah’m doing.”

Vegeta flicked to a blank page in his notebook, doodling swirls while waiting for the lecture to begin, “I’m glad.”

Mr. Popo walked in, looking tired, to say the least. He rubbed his face and sat at his computer sitting on his desk, “We’re watching a film today. I don’t care if you take notes for this one or not, just be quiet please?”

No one questioned his decision, and they all muttered to themselves, talking about a ‘lucky second Monday’.

Mr. Popo slipped in _The Titanic_ , and there was a mixture of reactions, but mostly excited mumbles.

“Son, do you seriously watch such things here?” Vegeta whispered after turning. Goku was just finishing up the last question to his homework. He nodded.

“Yeah, this one is censored, though. We watch it whenever Mr. Popo has a bad hangover.” He said it like it was a normal occurrence. Vegeta shrugged, a free block was always welcome. 

Suddenly he remembered what Trunks told him yesterday. Maybe Son really did feel something for him, and he should ask.

He turned around again, mouth open to talk, but he saw Goku scribbling on the top corner of his math paper hurriedly, “You good, Son?”

“Huh?” He looked up with wide eyes, “Y-yeah! Ah’m okay!”

“SON!” Mr. Popo shouted, causing everyone to giggle. Goku hunched down into his desk, not succeeding in hiding himself behind Vegeta.

“What are you doing?” Vegeta whispered to him, only to see that Goku scribbled faster, completely ignoring him.

“Son…”

Goku looked up, face tinged just a bit pink, “What is it?”

“What are you doing?” Vegeta tried to make out what the pen said under the frantic scribbling, but couldn’t for the life of him make any of it out. 

“My homework.”

“You finished your homework ten minutes ago.” Vegeta laid his chin on the edge of Goku’s desk, still trying to see under the pen. 

“Ah said Ah’m fine, ‘Geta,”

Vegeta looked up at him from his place on the desk, furrowing his brow. Goku looked down, sighing, “Please let it go.”

Vegeta huffed. All he wanted to do was make sure that Goku was okay. He had completely forgotten about his question until he turned back around, but Goku didn’t seem to be too happy this morning, so he decided to let it go for the time being. 

They walked to Trig together and sat on opposite sides of the room again. Ms. Snake collected homework, but skipped right over Goku. The tall boy bristled.

“Ms. Snake!” He shouted, whipping out a thick stack of papers. Ms. Snake’s eyes bugged. 

“Son?”

“Ah have ma homework today.” He placed the stack in her outturned hand.

She shook her head in disbelief, “Is this all your homework from the beginning of the year? She checked the papers, some dated September 12. Goku nodded proudly.

She tucked it into her chest with the rest of the papers, “Normally I wouldn’t bother to grade any of these due to your carelessness, but I’m surprised, so I’ll entertain this. Keep up the good work, Son.”

Goku nodded proudly, the bulge in his folder was greatly decreased by the number of papers he handed Ms. Snake. 

She made the rest of her way around the room, sliding the papers on top of the stack Goku handed her. As she walked around, she left a trail of quiet giggles in her wake. When she reached Vegeta, his face flushed bright red. 

On the bottom of Goku’s stack of papers, there was a plain sheet covered in black ink, ‘Vegeta Son’ scrawled over and over all over it, ranging from huge print to tiny scribbles. He glanced at Goku, who seemed oblivious, and handed the teacher his papers. She made her way to the front of the room and turned around, exposing the paper to the entire class. 

Goku finally noticed, freezing in his movements. Only then did the laughter mean something to him, and he flushed a deep crimson.

So Trunks was right. 

He looked over to Vegeta for a split second, catching his eyes, and darkened further. This only made everyone giggle louder. Goku couldn’t help the shameful shrinking into his desk. Ms. Snake didn’t pay mind to the commotion and set the big stack of papers on her desk.

The lecture continued without a hitch, but Vegeta found himself unable to concentrate fully on his notes. He took thorough ones, but they didn’t exactly reach his mind at the time. He knew he’d have to look them over once more before attempting the homework. 

He stole furtive glances at Goku, who seemed entirely out of it. He leaned on his hand and ran his pen back and forth on his notes, making nothing of sense. Normally, Vegeta would be annoyed at him, but he himself was in a similar state. 

The block ended and Goku jetted from the room as soon as he could to avoid taunting and questions. Vegeta was half tempted to follow, but that would only add fuel to the fire, so he decided to ignore the questions that were quietly thrown at him from the other students. 

Vegeta, without Goku around to guide him to his next class, wandered around for a moment before finding his way into his Films class. He groaned, sitting down and rubbing his face hard in an attempt to force the blood out of it. He looked to the front of the room, Looking at the completely disinterested teacher. He yawned long and stuffed a dumpling in his mouth. 

Shaking his head, Vegeta looked around the rest of the room, inspecting the movie posters all over the wall.

 _Saving Private Ryan, 12 Years A Slave, The Imitation Game_ , the list went on and on. Vegeta was appreciating the posters fully when the door opened again, revealing a shamefully red Goku. 

_’Seriously? Another one?_ Vegeta thought to himself. He was starting the think the counselors set up his schedule like this on purpose.

He kept tense eye contact with Goku as he crept out of the room, hoping the teacher hadn’t noticed him coming in.

“Son! The bell is about to ring, I don’t think you have any time to run any more errands.” He said, not looking away from his food. 

Goku hunched his back, defeated. He came in finally but sat all the way across the room from Vegeta. 

Vegeta was becoming sick of Goku’s ‘dodge and weave’ way of dealing with what happened in math. He stood, marching himself and his notebook across the room to sit next to Goku, close as he could. 

“Son,”

Goku stayed quiet, flushing again, “Goku.”

He glanced at Vegeta, “What?”

Vegeta was relieved to be upgraded to at least one word. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, “You’re stupid if you think _I’d_ be the one taking _your_ name.”

Goku pouted, but didn’t respond. He was obviously still embarrassed, but the lack of an outright rejection gave him a bit of confidence. He tucked his head into his chest and whispered, “Ah’d be willing to take your name, if Ah had to.”

The statement made Vegeta chuckle, and he just leaned his head back to hang behind his chair, “You’re an idiot,”

Goku nodded shyly.

“So, did you know that Mr. Popo wants me to consider moving from the Briefs’ to your place?” Vegeta didn’t lift his head.

“What?” Goku perked up, of course he would have no idea about whatever plan his parents made to improve his character.

“Yeah, It’s kinda funny, actually. At first, I thought that never in a million years would I want to have to share living space with you. But now… I don’t know, you’re funny. Maybe I wouldn’t mind.”

The bell rung, interrupting Goku’s follow up thought. There were only a few students in this class because it was optional, but the other students had obviously heard about Goku’s little slip-up, because they were huddled and whispering, glancing at the two of them every so often. The teacher put a disc in the player without saying anything, and it began to play. 

Vegeta did take notes on this one, failing at noticing all the times Goku decided that looking at him was more important than passing. 

Before the movie was over the block ended and the bell interrupted the middle of the scene. The teacher, whose name was apparently ‘Beerus’, paused the movie and dismissed them, mumbling through a mouthful of food.

Vegeta looked up at Goku as he stood and slipped his bag on, “Lunch?”

Goku nodded, waiting for Vegeta at the door. The two made their way downstairs, doing their best to ignore the hushed whispers of their classmates. They came into the cafeteria and sat in the same formation as the day before, everyone greeted Vegeta as if he had already been part of the group for years. 

“Son,” Krillin shouted, “Uncle wants you over this weekend, alright? Friday night to Sunday mornin’.”

Goku nodded at him, leaving the table to fetch some food. A pair of hands slapped down on his shoulders hard enough to make him jump.

“Bulma!”

She giggled, sitting in Goku’s spot for a minute to talk to him.

“Is it true?”

He shoved her away, “Is what true?”

She shoved him back, “That you’re sleeping with Son? Everyone is sayin’ you made it official last night,” She whispered quiet enough for no one but him to hear her, and she wiggled her eyebrows, “I have to say, I’m kind of jealous.”

“Of course that’s not true! I figured you were smart enough to know that, Bulma.”

She crossed her arms, “Well, excuse me. But I think I have plenty good reason to think so. He did bring you home in his truck last night, didn’t he?”

She was no longer whispering, and everyone at the table looked at Bulma. 

Chichi looked from Bulma to Piccolo to Vegeta, “Son let you ride in his truck?”

Vegeta just looked at her odd and nodded a bit. At everyone’s silence, Bulma giggled and stole away back into the ocean of students. 

Vegeta traded stares with everyone at the table, no one dared say anything. Goku came back, one tray in each hand, and set one down in front of Vegeta before sitting in the seat Bulma had planted herself in. 

He went to tuck in, but paused at the unusual silence, “Guys?”

Tien leaned over to whisper something in Goku’s ear, and he paused, glancing around the table nervously.

“That’s… That’s just silly, guys. You know Ah wouldn’t do that…”

Chichi crossed her arms, “We know damn well what it means, Son. Why don’t you just fess up?”

Goku planted his meaty hands on the table, spinning himself roughly in Chichi’s direction. “Chi! You know it ain’t that simple!”

She pointed at him, “It’s simpler than you, idiot! Why don’t you just get it over with and stop torturing yourself?!”

Goku palmed himself in the forehead, “You don’t get it! It’s not the same!”

Launch, the normally quiet one, flipped her blonde hair and stood, shoving Tien back into her previous seat. She planted herself next to Goku and slapped him clean across the face. 

It didn’t physically hurt him, but it got the message across loud and clear. Goku thanked her quietly and turned back to his food, looking down.

“Guys… Ah just need time to think, alright? Just a few days.” He picked at the peaches sitting in one of the compartments of his plate.

Everyone silently nodded in agreement, and Vegeta found himself more confused before.

“If this is about Son liking me, I already know about it. I’m not that surprised.”

Goku looked over at him, “Well, yeah, but…” He sighed again, “It’s not… There’s something else, and I don’t… Nevermind, I’ll talk to you later… Talking about it like this is embarrassing.”

Vegeta nodded, “You’ve had enough of that today. Just wait ‘til detention.”

Goku stayed quiet and ate his lunch, trying his best to tune out all the chatter around him, at their table or otherwise.

“HEY!” 

Goku jumped, along with nearly everyone else in the cafeteria, and swiveled to look at where the shout had come from.

Zarbon was standing on his table, cupping his hands to be as loud as he could.

“GOKU SON IS FUCKING THE SWISS BOY!”

Everyone was silent for a second before there was a slow roar of a mix of laughter and shouting. Goku fell red in the face again, tucking his head into his shoulders. Vegeta was unsure of what to do, so he just stared at Zarbon from across the room.

“HE RODE IN THE TRUCK! THE TRUCK!”

There was less laughter and more coos from all the students, a lot of them turning their attention from Zarbon to Goku and Vegeta.

The shouting became louder, much to Vegeta’s displeasure. He looked to Goku for guidance, but he was completely catatonic. The others at the table just looked mad, so he turned to Yamcha, tugging him down to talk in his ear.

“I’m gonna take Son away from this. Keep anyone from following us, alright?”

Yamcha saluted him with a determined look in his eyes. Vegeta thanked him and took hold of Goku’s wrist. He could hardly get a firm grip on it because it was so much thicker than his hand could wrap around, but it shook Goku out of himself enough for him to follow obediently. 

Everyone shouted and cooed and cheered as Vegeta carted Goku away. Of course they would all assume the worst, but Vegeta hardly cared. He spotted Yamcha tug Tien, Piccolo, and Krillin from their seats to block each of the exits. Vegeta thanked each one as they passed them, and the two boys ran quickly up the stairs, all the way to the top floor. 

There was no one in the east wing main hall, so no one saw them duck into the door labeled ‘Auditorium Balcony’.

Vegeta shoved Goku to the floor and sat next to him, smacking his head against the wall.

“What was that about?” He asked as Goku ran his hands through his wayward hair.

“Zarbon’s sore ‘cause I turned ‘im down in freshman year. So now whenever Ah get someone new he’s all over it, tryna make me look bad,” Goku closed his eyes, almost choking up, “God, this is so embarrassing.”

Vegeta sighed and leaned against Goku’s shoulder, breathing hard, “I thought he was phobic.”

Goku shook his head, “Nah, Ah’m the only one that knows, I'm pretty sure he hasn't even told Dodoria.”

Vegeta faced him, bordering on angry, “Why don’t you tell everyone? He’s been a real dick to you.”

“No, Ah can’t do that! Ah remember how shitty it was when Ah was outed… Ah wouldn’t wish that on anyone…” Goku rocked his head back and forth on the wall, visibly willing tears to go back down. 

“You’d deal with this to protect someone like him?” Vegeta pulled away again, standing and pacing across the floor.

He shrugged, “Yeah, I guess. I just wish you didn’t have to be part of it, too.”

Vegeta stayed quiet, leaning on the balcony railing overlooking the auditorium stage. Goku gazed at him curiously.

“There’s something you’re not telling me, Son.”

Goku’s breath hitched. He was hoping to have a little more time to plan what he was going to say to explain the vague conversation he had had with Chichi during lunch. 

“Ah, uh… Well…”

Vegeta crossed his arms, not looking back at Goku, “Spit it out.”

“‘Geta… I don’t want you to be mad…”

Vegeta groaned. Usually when someone said that, there was an incredibly legitimate reason to be mad. He let Goku continue to explain himself.

“Well, uh, Ah never really let anyone in ma car… Only ma family…”

Vegeta stayed silent.

“And, uh, there’s a spot that… Everyone goes to… To… Uh, ya know.”

“I don’t know, Son.”

Goku buried his head in his hands, trying and failing to keep his tears muted, “People go there to have sex with each other!” He took a breath, “And everyone thinks that’s what we did yesterday… But I didn’t tell them that! I don’t know where they got that idea from…”

Vegeta turned back around, leaning his hips back onto the railing, “I’m not mad at you.”

Goku lifted his head up after trying to stealthily wipe tears away, “You’re not?”

Vegeta shook his head, “You’re an idiot, but you’re not an asshole. I wouldn’t expect you to something that terrible, especially to me, considering you gave Dodoria a concussion over nothing,”

Goku bristled silently as if to say, ‘it wasn’t nothing’.

“My point is, even if you did want to bring me to whatever that place is and have sex with me, I wouldn’t be mad at you. Frankly, now that I know that there is such a place, I’m half tempted myself…” He sighed. “Regardless. The only one at fault here is Zarbon.”

Goku nodded, sniffing, “Thanks, ‘Geta.”

The bell rung out in the hall, Vegeta turned his head toward the door, “We should go. You have Eco, right?”

Goku nodded and sniffed again, standing up.   
Vegeta opened the door and checked that the hall was clear before slipping out, letting Goku catch the door behind him. They went down the hall together, shyly departing to their neighbor classes for the hour. 

The block went by painfully slow. Vegeta couldn’t concentrate, or even take notes. Nothing made sense, there was too much information to process from the day. He started to zone out. Launch tapped him on the shoulder.

“Ya alright, kid? Sorry ‘bout Zarbon…”

Vegeta shrugged, “I’m more worried about Son, it doesn’t bother me much.”

Launch grimaced, “How’s he holdin’ up?”

“Not too well. I tried to put his mind at ease, but he’s just paranoid that he’s fucking everything up…” He shook his head, “I feel bad, everything was fine before I came along.”

Launch giggled into her hand, “He hasn’t told you much, huh?” Vegeta looked at her strange, “Son hasn’t been doing well. He stopped caring about school, and the only way he knows how to get rid of his energy is to start fights or work his tail off at Uncle Roshi’s farm,” She sighed, “He was in complete self-destruct mode before you came along,” Launch smiled at him with silent thanks, “I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time. You’ve really brought him up the last few days.”

Vegeta had a hard time comprehending Goku in a bad mood for a long time at all. He wasn’t sure what to do with this information, if anything. His first emotion was pity. How many people knew about Goku’s problem with himself? Where did it even come from?

There was a roar from Goku’s classroom, and a big thud. It was different than yesterday, it wasn’t playful. Someone had gotten hurt.

The room went silent, and Vegeta quietly excused himself to go check out the issue. He had a bad feeling in his gut that there was something wrong with Goku. 

He crept closer, hoping to find something similar to yesterday, but there was another yell. He sped up, coming right through the door. 

Everyone was staring at Goku, who appeared to have hit his head against the wall a few times. Ignoring Whis’ protests, Vegeta rushed over to him, looking into his eyes. He looked a strange combination of panicked and numb.

“Goku! Goku, look at me.” Vegeta slapped him gently on the face a few times, noticing the bruises on his forehead. Goku looked at him fully, the panic completely taking over. 

“‘Geta!” He launched forward, tackling Vegeta down into a deep hug. Vegeta patted him on the shoulders and he loosened up a bit, but started sniffling.

“Son… It’s okay, shh…” Vegeta completely ignored the shocked stares coming from every other student in the room. Whis tore a piece of paper and handed it to Vegeta, who gently pulled himself away from Goku to read it. He looked at Whis with questioning eyes.

“You two already have detention together as it is, and I’m worried for his safety. Just bring him down for the rest of the day, they won’t question it. I’ll let her know why you’re gone,” He poked a thumb in the direction of Vegeta’s class, sending Vegeta off. Goku followed close behind him like a lost dog, “Just make sure he’s alright.”

Vegeta nodded before pulling Goku into the hall and into a hug again, “What was that about?”

Goku shook and clung to Vegeta like a lifeline, “Can we just go down? I need to sit.”

Vegeta nodded and lead him to the grand staircase and down the hall to the same office they went to last night. He handed the lady at the desk the paper Whis gave him and followed an over-eager Goku into the conference room.

Goku planted himself in the chair he took yesterday and wiggled back and forth. He looked like a rocking baby, trying to calm himself down like that. Vegeta looked at him with sympathy, trying to come up with some words to help comfort him. 

He remembered what Launch told him about Goku’s instability and self-destructive behavior. Vegeta sighed and sat in a different chair, scootching them together so their knees touched, “Panic attack?”

Goku paused and nodded, looking down at their joined knees, “They kept talking ‘bout you, it made me feel like they were making fun a’ you.”

Vegeta shook his head, “You don’t need to worry about that for my sake. I don’t care if they don’t like me.”

Goku shook his head, “That’s not it! I just want you to be safe… And bein’ away from ya like that… Especially when they’re talkin’ bad, Ah couldn’t take it.”

Vegeta nodded, “And you panicked ‘cause you couldn’t protect me.”

“Yea!” Goku shoved his face into his hands, pulling at his bangs, “Ah’m feelin’ better now that you’re here… I know you’re safe.”

Vegeta sighed, “This has everything to do with Zarbon and Dodoria doesn’t it?”

“Ah think it might, Ah was almost too late that one time, and Ah don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if Ah hadn’t gotten there in time.” Goku shuddered.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me. “I know saying it doesn’t fix anything, but…” He debated for a second, “Launch told me about… How you’re not in a good spot.”

Goku looked up from his hands, “Ah figured you’d find out eventually. Ah’m not very proud of it.”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” He patted his knee in an effort to comfort him, “Are you at least seeing someone?”

Goku shook his head, “Ah can’t. Between all the time Ah spend here, in detention, and at the farm, Ah hardly have enough time to eat, sleep, and shower, let alone see a therapist.

“Hm,” Vegeta leaned down to put his head on top of his hands, trying to think, “Well, we could fix that. No more fights. That frees up a lot of your time,” He sat back up, “And maybe consider living off your parents for a while, just until you get things in order.”

Goku took a deep breath and pushed himself away in his chair, “It’s not that simple, ‘Geta. Uncle Roshi depends on me to keep the farm up, he’s too old to do it all by himself anymore, and… This sounds dumb, but Ah need to fight. If Ah don’t fight then Ah get all jittery and anxious.”

Vegeta swallowed and looked on in pity. Goku really was in a tight spot, with little options on a way out. He wished more than anything that he could help the kid, but he didn’t understand what he thought and what he needed. 

“You could try kickboxing or something, mixed martial arts…”

Goku thought a moment before nodding, “That might work. Ah don’t know how Ah’ll do it, but Ah can try… Thanks, ‘Geta.”

Vegeta nodded, “No problem, Son,” He inspected the room, spotting something interesting, “Wanna play Uno?”

Goku perked up, “Ah’ll destroy ya.”

Vegeta pushed himself up, fetching the box and pulling out the cards. They dealt to themselves and started out.

 

They played a few rounds before Whis came striding in, book in hand. He sat at the head of the table, “You okay, Son?”

Goku nodded, not looking up from the pile of cards, “‘Geta’s real good at calmin’ me down. Ah feel alright now.”

Whis cocked an eyebrow, “You sure? You threw quite a fit. How’s your head?”

Goku grimaced, “It still hurts a bit. Ah hit it pretty hard.”

Whis sighed, “Son, I’ve never seen you that hysterical. Are you sure everything is alright? I didn’t expect you to fall to self-harm in the classroom.”

Goku flushed, “Whis, Ah really don’t wanna talk about it righ’ now. Ah said Ah’m okay and Ah meant it. Ah won’t let a few words get to me like that.”

Vegeta knew he was full of shit, but didn’t say anything and kept playing. Goku was happy enough right here, doing things that were mindless and meditative. If that’s what it took for a short-term solution, he was happy to oblige. Goku played without stopping, tuned in so deep to the game that a few more rounds went by without him even noticing. Vegeta noticed Whis’ occasional bristling, he was obviously worried about his student. 

They didn’t talk much. Goku didn’t want to discuss the incident from earlier, and though Vegeta knew that holding it in wouldn’t help anything, he wanted what would make Goku happy. If that meant playing Uno for four and a half hours, that’s what it meant. 

Detention ended for Goku too soon. The last thing he wanted was to go home and be reminded of his shortcomings. He’d much rather stay and play more games with Vegeta. 

But he had to go home. 

The two walked out into the parking lot where the buses were lined up. Goku looked down to Vegeta, like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.

“What?”

Goku sighed, “Ah was gonna ask you if you wanted me to bring you home again, but Ah don’t expect you to say yes.”

Vegeta crossed his arms, glaring at Goku, “And what if I would say yes?”

“Then Ah’d tell you to come with me and get in my truck.” Goku crossed his own arms.

“Then let’s go!” Vegeta grabbed onto Goku’s thick wrist and pulled him to student parking, around the corner, and to the only vehicle sitting there.

Goku unlocked it from his pocket and helped Vegeta in again, immediately holding his hand out. He walked around and got in himself, starting the car, and turning on the heat and radio. 

They went out the same way as last time, heading down the main roads and all the way to the edge of the city where the gated community sat. 

Goku kept driving, blowing straight past their houses and further toward the lake. 

“Son?”

“Don’t worry, ‘Geta, Ah’m not doin’ anything creepy. We’re just gonna go to the beach for a little bit. You should text Bulma or Trunks and let them know so they don’t worry.” He never took his eyes off the road, but he waved his right hand around. 

A few more minutes down the road he took a left turn, and another, and a right. Eventually, they pulled into a sandy lot, but Goku drove the truck past the lot to another opening in the woods. The path was hardly wide enough to not scrape wayward branches along the side of the car. 

After what felt like a long few minutes of driving, Goku pulled to a stop at the edge of a cliff, the soft music suddenly seeming a lot louder as he flicked the key into idle and sat back, pulling the e-brake. 

He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, “This is it.”

“What is it?” Vegeta asked stupidly.

The view _was_ stunning, he couldn’t deny that, but the vague way Goku explained where they were going worried him a bit.

“It’s the spot that everyone comes. Ya know, to have sex,” He chuckled at Vegeta’s shocked expression, “Don’t worry, Ah didn’t drive us here for that. Ah just…” He sighed again, looking out to the water, “Ah don’t get to see this view often, and Ah thought you’d appreciate it more than anyone else would, considering what they come here for,”

Vegeta nodded, kind of understanding Goku’s reasoning. And he was right, the view was amazing. It was late already, almost 5:45, so the duskiness of the sun finally kissing the water painted the sky in brilliant pinks and oranges. There were a few cirrostratus clouds strewn about, and the water in them carried the refracted light across the sky even further. The water was dark, almost black, but the waves were horribly visible, the edge of the cliff hardly hid the kiss of the water against the sand itself, which was white where it wasn’t dampened by the turbulence. 

The pine trees that hung over the two of them shielded them from sight, they were in their own little cove, away from everything else. 

It was silent aside from the music floating around. The song had changed a while ago to something far more graceful than heavy metal. Vegeta spotted the aux cord running from the stereo into the jack of Goku’s phone. The gentle tune had relaxed ukulele and a high pitched but pleasant female voice. Vegeta looked at the roof of the cab and sighed.

“Ya like it? Ah think it’s one of the most beautiful things you can see ‘round here.”

Vegeta looked out to the chaotic waves. There was a strange element of gracefulness to them, though they crashed against the shore like bricks. 

“It is quite captivating, I’ll give you that.”

Goku stared over at him from across the cab with a strange endearing smile for a moment before shaking himself out of it.

“Anyway, it’s gettin’ pretty late… I’m gonna bring ya back home now.” He announced awkwardly, ruffling the hair on the back of his head.

Vegeta turned back to him, “Son, wait.”

“Huh?” Goku’s hand stopped, hovering above the ignition.

Vegeta hesitated, looking from Goku’s face to his hand and back, “Uh, I…” Why now of all times did he have to abandon his eloquence? This couldn’t have been more awkward. He twiddled his thumbs in his lap, looking down. He took a deep breath to gather his nerves, “I believe I may have feelings for you as well.”

He whispered so quietly that his confession was nearly drowned out by the soft music. But Goku still heard him, and he was strangely quiet for a moment before clearing his throat and turning the ignition. 

Vegeta stared tensely from the corner of this eyes as Goku performed a smooth 3-point-turn to head back down the path.

They both sat entirely silent until they were already halfway back to the community. 

“Uh, ‘Geta. Sorry fer, uh, ignorin’ ya back there. Ah just needed a minute ta think,” He took a breath, “Ah’m flattered that ya think that ‘a me… Really… Ah just,” another breath, “Ah don’t think it’s safe fer ya to be… Ma boyfriend, ah guess,”

Vegeta noted how Goku’s drawl became much thicker when he was nervous.

“At least! At least not publicly, ya know? Zarbon would be ruthless to ya if he ever knew.” 

Feeling distracted, Goku flipped on his four-ways and pulled over, taking a minute to gather himself before leaning back in his seat.

Vegeta shrugged, “He’s already being a dick, I don’t see how it can get much worse.”

Goku shook his head, “Ya got no idea the kinda things that kid can do. He’ll stop at nothing to make our lives hell.” 

“You’d protect me though, right?” 

He sighed, “Ah can protect ya from anyone tryna hurt ya in a fight, but Zarbon’s a lot smarter than Ah am. He can fuck with ya mind ‘n stuff, make ya thinks things ya don’t want to.” Pulling back out into the road, he checked his blind spot, “Ah like ya, ‘Geta, but Ah want ya safe.”

“So, what now?” Vegeta crossed his arms and looked out the window, embarrassed and annoyed.

Goku stayed quiet for a long while, “Ah don’ think you should hang ‘round me anymore…”

Something changed inside Vegeta’s chest. The words hurt him, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe he liked Goku more than he thought. 

He furrowed his brow and sank further into his seat, “So you’re just gonna charm me into liking you and shove me away?”

Goku took a deep sigh, but didn’t respond.

“You’re a real jerk, Son.”

The car wasn’t even to a full stop in the Briefs driveway before Vegeta unbuckled himself and hopped out, stomping the whole way to the front door. He didn’t bother looking back outside to see if Goku had stayed or not.

He tossed his notebook onto the dinner table and ate silently, tuning out most of the conversation and only responding shortly when spoken to. Trunks gave him a look over the table.

“What’s wrong with you, man?”

Vegeta shook his head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Something with Son, I’m guessing,” Bulma said to no one in particular. Vegeta bristled.

“I _said_ I don’t want to talk about it,”

After a few tense moments of silence, he shoved his chair away from the table and scooped his notebook into his arms, “I’m full. Goodnight.”

He stomped up the stairs, ignoring the tempting call of the shower, and slipping into his bedroom. He stripped down and changed into clean pajamas. Flopping down on his futon bed, he sighed.

The sun was fully down now, no streaks of color in the sky left. He ignored the knock on his door that came not long after. Whether it was Trunks or Bulma, he didn’t care, he wanted to be left alone.

He had trouble falling asleep, despite being so tired. He just couldn’t get over the fact that Goku had actually told him to go away. 

He felt a strange pull, like he wanted to go over to Goku’s house and punch him right in the gut. But it was useless. No matter what he did to Goku, he was sure it wouldn’t hurt as much as he wanted it to.

With angry tears in his eyes, he fell asleep.


	3. Wednesday, October 18th

He woke up angry. He knew that he would, it didn’t even feel like he blinked before he was up again, his mind not being able to rest at all. 

He silently dressed, brushed his teeth, skipped breakfast and made his way out of the house. He ignored the quiet questions from Trunks and Bulma, who had decided to prod at him the whole ride to school. Vegeta did his best to ignore the urge to look back in the direction of Goku’s home, but he couldn’t help himself and caught a painful glance at the tall boy hoisting himself up into his truck. His chest hurt. The sight of Goku put him in physical pain. 

He slowly made his way to first block. He had Trig first thing on Wednesdays, so there was no avoiding Goku. He could ignore him, but Vegeta didn’t trust his own self-control.

He sat down in the classroom nearly last. Usually, he was punctual, but he was still feeling down, so he didn’t make a rush to get to class. He heard a few sniggers as he sat in his seat, apparently no one had forgotten about Goku’s little slip-up. He sighed and pulled out his finished homework, silently handing it to Ms. Snake as she made her rounds. 

He could feel everyone's eyes on him, and seeing Goku out of the corner of his eye the whole time didn’t help. The idiot was shamelessly staring at him, and it hurt. 

All that seemed to be constant in the last twelve hours was hurt. 

Vegeta took his notes dutifully, taking extra care to be precise. 

He made not a single sound as he packed up and left the classroom. He sighed, there was a class he hadn’t had yet on his schedule. Without Goku there to guide him, he was going to have to wing it. 

He remembered that the science wing was the same direction that the stairwell to the basement was, so he retraced his steps and found himself at the beginning of the hallway.

“Room 268… room 268…” He chanted quietly to himself while searching for the correct room. It was funny. When he decided to go with Chemistry for his science course, he wasn’t counting on it being in such a remote section of the building.

Finally finding the right room, he strolled in with a questioning expression. He read the board. Yup, Tao’s Chem class, second block. He was in the right place for sure. 

He turned away from the board and scanned the room.

His eyes met the cruel chartreuse ones of Zarbon, who smiled wide at him. No one else would be able to see the chilling connotation in his expression, but it sent a sick bolt of anger through Vegeta’s body. 

“Vegeta. I see you’ve decided to join us. Take a seat.”

Of course, by the merciless humor of the gods, the only available seat in the entire class was right in front of Zarbon. Vegeta silently thought a prayer and sat down, being sure for no reason in particular to be as quiet as possible. He took a deep breath and looked around again, he hadn’t really noticed anyone else since his intense staredown.

He met Tien's eyes, who gave him an apologetic smile. He raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Shinhan?”

“Sir, you said our lab partners weren’t permanently assigned until the winter semester correct?”

“I did.” Mr. Tao adjusted a few papers on his desk.

“If you wouldn’t mind, sir, I’d like Vegeta as my lab partner. I feel that we would work well together.” He brought his hand down. 

Tao thought about it for a moment, “Gohan? Are you alright with Tien switching partners?”

A petite blond boy in the front nodded, “I feel that I work better alone as is, sir.”

“Good. That’s perfectly fine then,” He picked up a thick stack of paper, “Speaking of Vegeta,” He walked over to Vegeta’s desk, setting the stack down on his desk, “Since the foreign exchange program is a shitshow, you’re behind on material by a month. You have an extra month go hand in all the homework you’ve missed, plus the one unit test we’ve had so far.”

Vegeta inspected the stacks of completed notes with confusion, “Sir, I’ve already had these lessons, the notes are unnecessary.”

Tao took the first few paperclipped stacks away from him, “Then you won’t be needing these. Luckily for you, this is a study period, so you may get started,” He straightened up, tossing the paper in the recycling bin, “Class, you know the drill. Study and stay quiet and you get full marks for the day. Tomorrow is our penny lab, so make sure you look over the hard copies before then,” He sat down at his desk again, “Get to work.”

Vegeta took a deep breath and clicked his pen a few times. He started out with the top paper, swiftly making his way through the formulas. He was distracted a bit, as he felt the looming presence of Zarbon over his shoulder. It was unsettling, but he did his best to ignore it. 

He was already halfway done with the stack before the bell rung again. That was strange, it was nowhere near an hour.

Everyone set down their work and all but sprinted out the door. Tien was left in the doorway, looking back at Vegeta.

“You comin’? It’s lunchtime.”

“Oh,” Vegeta responded simply. He left his things on the desk and left alongside Tien, making sure to stay close, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. You make Son happy, so I’m gonna do what I can to make sure that asswad doesn’t get near you,” He said as he rounded the corner, “Besides, you’re smart, and I’m not. I could really get used to having you as a partner.”

Vegeta followed him down the stairs, unsure of whether or not he should tell Tien about Goku’s decision to cut him out. He decided it wouldn’t be a very good idea and stayed quiet. If Goku wanted them to know then he would tell them.

“Alright, Goku’s not in there, so I get it if you don’t want to sit with us today. He’s got a different lunch.”

Vegeta nodded, “I think I just need to clear my head.”

Tien gave him a gentle smile before going inside, “Feel free to come in if you get lonely.”

Vegeta just slid down the wall and sat on the floor. He left his notebook and things in the classroom, so he only had his phone to entertain him. He pulled it out of his pocket to see that Bulma had texted him a few times during first block.

**You alright, kid?** 8:02 am

**I don’t know what Son did to upset you, but I talked to him before class, he said he’s just trying to protect you** 8:15 am

**Vegeta, I know you’re upset, but you can’t just ignore everything and hope it’ll go away.** 8:37 am

She sent a series of numbers.

**This is his number.. Call him, text him, whatever. Just stop being an asshole.** 8:50 am

He texted her back a quick thank you and scrolled back up to stare at the digits again. That was Goku’s number, and it held a strange weight to it that Vegeta couldn’t place. He stared at it for a long time, and before he realized what was happening, the bell rang again and he had to make his way back to class. 

He saved the number in his phone under ‘Son’ and dragged himself back up the stairs. 

The rest of Chem was lackluster, Zarbon hadn’t made a move yet, and he finished that month's worth of work in no time. He plopped the stack down on Tao’s desk, ignoring his shocked expression, and walked out as soon as the bell rung. 

He rushed away, having a nasty feeling that something wasn’t right, that someone was gonna mess up his way of barely scraping through the day. So he went further down the hall of the science wing, to the farthest staircase. He rushed around the corner, and bumped into something hard.

“Ah, sorry, sor-... ‘Geta?”

Avoiding Goku’s eyes, Vegeta muttered a small apology and rushed off down the stairs.

“‘Geta!”

He stomped down faster, regretting the fact that they were far away from everyone else. He heard the lumbering fool smash his work boots down those stairs significantly faster than him, and before he even had a chance to turn the next corner he was stopped by two strong hands on his shoulders. 

“‘Geta, stop ya runnin’ would ya? Ah just wanna talk.”

Vegeta clenched his eyes shut tight. God, his chest just wouldn’t stop that ache whenever he saw Goku, and it was one of the strangest and most uncomfortable pains he had ever experienced. 

He shied away, turning his head. Goku’s hands were warm, and he was sure that if this was yesterday, the warmth would be comforting. 

“I’m trying to respect your wishes.” He didn’t even want to speak Goku’s name. It all hurt too much. 

“Ah don’t want ya to be hurtin’ ‘Geta… Bulma told me this mornin’ that you never talked ta anyone before goin’ ta bed last night,” Vegeta couldn’t see his face, but he knew that his eyes were full of either sadness or pity, and he wasn’t keen on seeing either. 

Goku took a deep breath and let his shoulders go, “Ah didn’t want ya hurtin’... Ah guess… Ah dunno. Ah want ya to be safe. Ah’d rather hurt without ya that have you hurt with me.”

Vegeta finally exploded. The anger and hurt he felt bubbled over in the form of tears. With a girly grunt, he pushed forward, smacking Goku in the chest with weak fists. He still refused to open his eyes.

“You idiot!” He sobbed, finally putting his arms down, “I’m hurting either way. All I wanted was for you to help me. I just…” He fell into Goku’s chest, who caught him and held him tight, “I didn’t want to hurt alone.”

Goku helped him back on his feet, steadying him against the wall, “Ah’m sorry, ‘Geta. Ah didn’t know ya felt like that.”

Vegeta glared daggers after wiping his eyes, “Of course you didn’t.” And with that, he walked away, down to the hall by the gym. He didn’t look back as he ran, but he checked his reflection quick in the door window of an empty classroom. He didn’t look too disheveled, and his eyes were only a bit pink. It would have to do.

He changed in the bathroom stall, not liking the idea of public locker rooms. He kind of lost himself in the routine during gym. He ran until he felt like his lungs would burst, and then he ran more. He got a drink, ran a bit more, and did some pull-ups. 

Usually the instructor would want everyone doing the same thing, but he decided to let Vegeta go. The kid seemed so out of himself, and he knew about the episode in the cafeteria from yesterday, so he let it slide.

Vegeta hardly noticed the lack of people around him as he went through another circuit. He continued for the full hour, only stopping to breathe and fetch water a few times. He ignored the strange stares from the other students. 

And he ran again. 

His last real class for the day was Films, and by the looks of it, he wouldn’t have a chance at escaping Goku at all. 

He peeked in last second, seeing Goku sit exactly where he was last time. Vegeta walked far away from there and sat at the opposite side of the room, closer to the projector. He took a deep breath and flipped to the section of pages in his book dedicated to the movie that they were watching. 

Beerus ignored the obvious tension in the room and pressed play on the player, kicking back and stuffing his face with an egg roll. 

Vegeta could hardly concentrate. He could practically feel the hole that Goku was staring in the back of his head. He pointedly ignored it, even during incredibly boring scenes. He turned toward the projector so his body was facing completely away from Goku, but his stare was still firmly mounted on the back of his head.

Vegeta was so concentrated on ignoring Goku that he missed a good fifteen-minute chunk of the movie, and found himself completely lost. The credits rolled lazily up the screen as Beerus handed out a half-assed 5 question quiz on it. 

Thankfully the section that Vegeta missed had nothing to do with the questions, and he filled the paper out in just a few minutes. He sat twirling his pen in his hands.

“Thank you,” Beerus muttered as he picked up Vegeta’s paper. 

Vegeta watched as he made his rounds, collecting the short quiz. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Beerus lean down next to Goku and whisper a conversation with him. He didn’t take his paper, and went back to his desk for another egg roll.

The bell rung and Vegeta made his way downstairs to the cafeteria for study hall. He knew that Goku had the same one, only because the clonking of his boots echoed through the halls like a death march.

Vegeta went to the farthest corner possible and leaned against the wall. He hadn’t accumulated any homework over the day so he was stuck with his phone again. He had a few texts from Goku during Films class, and hesitated to open them.

He looked across the room. Goku seemed to be keeping himself away from Vegeta.

‘At least he can take a hint.’ Vegeta quipped before opening the messages.

**Hey, I know you’re mad at me right now and I get it, but I need you to know that I’m only pushing you away for your own safety. I know that it was really sudden and probably uncalled for but… Vegeta I care about you a lot. You make my dark clouds go away. But I don’t want to give them to you, alright? Skip detention. I don’t want you to have to see me again.** 12:27 pm

It was obvious to Vegeta that Goku had put a lot of thought into the text, but that still didn’t fix his situation. Apologies were nice, but in the end they didn’t matter.

Vegeta didn’t have the chance to read the next texts before there was a crash at the other side of the room. Goku had put some poor kid on a table, but he didn’t go after him with punches. He just slammed him to the ground and stood over him for a moment before straightening up and walking out of the room.

He waved off the supervisor as he passed her, letting her know that he was on his way to the office already.

Vegeta was unsure of how to process what had happened. It didn’t seem like there was any discourse going on before he had done that, but he also did the least amount of damage as possible. It was strange, and it kept Vegeta thinking for a long time. 

He read the other texts.

**I really do care about you. I’m sorry that I hurt you, but I don’t know what else to do. Zarbon is dangerous, and I want to keep you out of the line of fire for as long as possible. I know it sounds terrible, but I’d rather hurt you myself than let him do it. It’s the only way I can be sure you stay safe.** 12:32 pm

**I promise I’ll make it up to you. At some point.** 12:34 pm

**I really am sorry.** 12:36 pm

The last message made his heart crack.

**Please look at me.** 12:54 pm

 

He refused to listen to Goku’s request and skip detention. As much as he genuinely didn’t want to see him, the less chance he had to be punished the better. With any luck, Goku had been sent home after the debacle in the cafeteria. 

Vegeta waited for a long time after the last bell rung to make his way into the student services office. For some reason, he couldn’t stop the nervousness gnawing at his gut. He knew that eventually he would have to talk to Goku about what was happening, but that didn’t mean that he had to go face it head on, did it? 

All he wanted was to go back to Switzerland. Things were simpler at home. He didn’t have to deal with messy things like crushes, and he could just focus on his studies. That’s what he wanted. But Goku only distracted him from that. 

Damn him. 

He walked into the conference room to find Whis at his normal spot at the head of the table. Goku had sat in his usual chair, playing with the edges of a piece of unfinished homework. Whis looked up from his book at the sound of the door opening.

“Ah, Vegeta. I was wondering when you would join us.”

Vegeta glanced at Goku and nodded, “Sorry, I was distracted and I didn’t realize the bell had rung,” he lied, “This is my last day of detention anyway.”

He sat down on the opposite end of the table as Goku, and did his best to not watch him as he struggled through his homework. He shook his head and took out his own homework, a single sheet of Trig. 

He finished it in just a few minutes, he had been paying attention well in class, and had been taught that particular lesson before back home. He set the packet aside and took a deep silent breath. He had nothing else to do for the whole rest of detention that didn’t involve Goku, and that bothered him.

He didn’t want to be dependent on Goku for entertainment. He could entertain himself, dammit! Vegeta flipped open his notebook to a fresh page and began to doodle, drawing eyes and flowers, writing words that he thought looked nice. 

He filled that side of the page and kept going, flipping to the reverse side and scribbling swirly lines all over. He lost himself for a while in it, so much so that his pen had run out of ink and he was digging holes into the paper. 

He sighed, setting down the dead pen and looking around. Goku was on his phone and Whis was still reading. He figured he should check his phone as well, maybe there would be something he could read or play to keep his mind off Goku. 

He unlocked it and was reminded of why he kept it on silent. There was a text from Bulma, a few from Goku, and one from an unsaved number. He opened the one from Bulma.

**Son said you talked to him a little? Hope everything’s alright** 1:26 pm

He ignored it and moved on to the unfamiliar number. 

**Hey, Vegeta. It’s Tien. I asked Bulma for your number when I found out what happened. I’m sorry, I had no idea about it when we were in Chem. If you need to talk or vent or anything, don’t hesitate to call me, alright?** 1:15 pm

He texted Tien back a quick ‘thank you’ and saved his number into his contacts. He stared at the unopened conversation with Goku for a minute before deciding to ignore it and do something else.

“Vegeta?” Whis called to him from across the room, setting down his book without marking the page.

He nodded, “Yeah?”

Whis looked between him and Goku, cocking an eyebrow, “Are you two alright? You seem oddly quiet.”

Vegeta instantly felt a headache coming along. They still had an hour and a half left until five, so there was no escaping the discussion.

Vegeta shrugged, feigning disinterest, “I didn’t sleep well last night,” it wasn’t a lie, to be fair, “I’m just feeling drained.”

Whis nodded in understanding, “Well, hopefully, you can get some good rest tonight then. What about you, Son? 

He saw Goku shrug, “Ah’m not really lookin’ forward to work this weekend, gotta move two tons of hay and wash out all the horse stalls,” he shook his head, “Besides, ‘Geta’s mad at me.”

Whis’ eyebrows shot far up his head, “Oh? What happened?” He looked at the two boys, setting his book to the side. 

“You bastard,” Vegeta muttered under his breath.

Goku took a deep breath, “Well, we really like each other, but Zarbon’s jus’ gonna be mean to ‘Geta ‘bout it cause he’s a dick. ‘N Ah told ‘Geta that I want him to stay away from me ‘cause ah don’t want ‘im hurt. So he’s mad.”

Goku explained the situation so simply like there was nothing to it. It infuriated Vegeta beyond what he thought was possible, “Are you kidding me?!” Vegeta stood up, motioning in a random direction, “I don’t care about him at all!” His accent was stronger, he wasn’t able to concentrate enough to enunciate clearly.

He shook his head back and forth so hard that he dizzied himself. 

“Vege-”

He rounded on Goku, fire in his eyes, “Chasch mi mal! Du bisch sonen Arsch!” He grasped at the sides of his head, pulling his hair hard.

 

Both Goku and Whis looked at him with confusion and concern, then looked at each other as if to expect an answer. Their expressions only fueled Vegeta’s anger. He bumbled a bit before picking up his notebook and walking out, thankful that the receptionist had gone home already.

“‘Geta, c’mon.”

“Verpiss dich!” He shouted over his shoulder as he slammed the door and walked out, leaving the school from one of the side doors and deciding to walk home. 

Whis looked from the door to Goku and back. He shook his head, “I don’t know the details, Son, but that kid likes you a lot,” he chuckled a bit, “Enough to call you an ass, apparently. Go home. That seems about enough for today.”

Goku nodded, somehow hurt by the words he didn’t even understand a little bit. It was the emotion behind them that stung. Vegeta was really mad, and it didn’t look like he would calm down anytime soon. Goku waved bye to Whis and left to the east wing exit for his truck. 

It was sad that he had started to resent the thing. It’s what got him into this mess in the first place. It hurt him to pull himself into the driver’s seat and not see Vegeta at the other side of the cab.

He drove home, pulling out of student parking and down the road to the community. He saw Vegeta on the road ahead and slowed down to a crawl. He was about to roll his window down, but Vegeta flipped him off without even turning his head. He took a deep breath and kept driving, despite the blaring urge to get Vegeta in the safety of the truck. 

He pulled into his driveway, leaving his bag in the car and heading upstairs without dinner. He watched from his bedroom window for three hours waiting for Vegeta to walk through the gate and go inside. He texted him a few times. 

They were ignored.

 

Finally home, Vegeta threw his notebook onto his bed and left to get in the shower. He hadn’t bathed the night before, and after walking home for several hours, he was cold and sweaty. A nice, hot shower would do good to warm him up and hopefully calm his nerves. 

Bulma and Trunks didn’t even ask, watching from the dinner table as Vegeta made his way from the front door directly to the staircase, just to disappear for the night. He exuded negative energy, and both of the Briefs’ kids knew when to just leave someone alone. 

Vegeta left the shower and walked naked, dripping, all the way into his room. He shook his head back and forth to clear excess water from his hair.

He picked up his phone, seeing a total of ten unread messages from Goku. Sighing, he opened them. 

**I asked you to skip detention, why are you here?** 2:17 pm

**I know you feel your phone vibrating. Would you please stop scribbling on everything and talk to me?** 2:33 pm

**If I knew you would’ve reacted this way then I wouldn’t have said anything. This is fucking killing me.** 2:37 pm

Vegeta shook his head and kept reading.

**Veg, I’m only trying to protect you. I know it hurts. It’s hurting me too. Can you please just talk to me?** 2:50 pm

**If you won’t talk to me then just hear me out? I’m doing my best to make this easier for both of us.** 3:15

The next texts were from a few hours later, while he was walking home.

**You’re so stubborn, not letting me pick you up. I’m just worried about you. I wanted you to get home safe.** 4:21 pm

**I just have your best interests in mind. I’m not gonna be able to protect you all the time. I know you can handle yourself cause you’re all smart and amazing and funny, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna be protective.** 4:30 pm

**Please be okay? I don’t want to have to deal with knowing that the last words you said to me I didn’t even understand.** 5:18 pm

**’Geta I’m gettin real worried about you. It’s dark out and you should’ve been home by now. I don’t even know if you’ve eaten anything today.** 6:45 pm

**I’m serious, I’m really worried now. If you’re not home by 8 I’m going out there and finding you. Please let me know you’re okay. Please.** 7:03 pm

Vegeta sighed. He knew that Goku cared, obviously, but it was just so painful to see him all the time and know that he didn’t want him around. It was supposedly for his own safety, but why did that even matter?! With the both of them together, Zarbon wouldn’t even be able to come close. Goku was letting him win by pushing Vegeta away. 

Vegeta sighed at sat on the edge of his bed, getting the sheets wet. He went to the keyboard to respond to Goku.

**I’m fine. I’m home now.** 7:54 pm

He tossed his phone into the mess of his sheets and got dressed, letting the loose cotton of his shirt and bottoms soak up the rest of the water from his shower.

In a slightly better mood, he went back downstairs to the dimly lit kitchen and took some snacks out to make up his dinner. He was hungrier than he thought, and finished three sandwiches before chugging a glass of water and going back to his room. 

Now fed, cleaned, and dressed, Vegeta had nothing else to worry about. The day was finally catching up with him, and he was absolutely exhausted.

He checked his phone one last time before falling asleep. There was a single text from Goku.

**Thank God.** 7:54 pm


	4. Thursday, October 19th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter, sorry about that! It's a good one though, the boys get some shit done.

The next morning, he felt a little better. He had re-read the texts from Goku a few times, and the few that Bulma had sent him, and he finally kind of understood. Goku was just trying to keep him as happy as possible, but what he didn't realize was that _he_ was the one keeping Vegeta happy. He was carefree and lighthearted. He laughed at everything, including himself. He was shy and protective and he constantly doted over Vegeta, even if he did it in his head. 

Vegeta felt terrible for swearing at him yesterday, but he had no idea what to do and his temper was out of control. He was definitely mad, Goku and Whis had downplayed his emotions so much that they hadn't even asked him what he thought about the situation at all, let alone what he thought would be the best for both of them. 

Maybe Goku was right. Maybe they needed to stay away from each other. The thought hurt insanely, Vegeta wasn’t anywhere near ready to say goodbye to the idiot. The wishes he had yesterday to go home were emotional and irrational. Even if he wanted to go home he couldn’t, he wouldn't be leaving until the summer at least.

Staying away from Goku until the summer, and then going home and not even being able to see him in passing would hurt even more. What was he supposed to do? Just get over it?

He couldn’t do that. It had only been a few days, yeah. And maybe he was being impulsive, sure. But there was something about Goku that was charming, and he couldn’t let go of it even if he wanted to. It was there, and it wasn’t going away. 

He sighed and pulled up his keyboard.

 **You were right. I’m sorry. Thank you for looking out for me.** 6:23 am

He got up to eat breakfast, making sure to take a bit more. Goku wanted him to stay fed and healthy, so he would do his best to keep himself like that.

He got on the bus, not feeling great, but better than yesterday. He was starting to accept the reality that him and Goku being together just wasn’t realistic or safe. It was hard to think about, but that’s what Goku wanted. 

He had Chemistry first thing, and he recalled Tao mentioning a lab the day before. He went up to Tien and asked him about the sheet.

“Is this the metal alloy experiment? We just turn copper into brass?”

Tien nodded, “It’s pretty simple, we just gotta mix the zinc powder and the sodium hydroxide and heat it up, coat the penny and put it on the hot plate for a few seconds,” Tien smiled down at him, “It shouldn’t take us more than twenty minutes.”

They made their way to the lab area, washed their hands, put on goggles and coats, and found themselves at one of the stations. 

They made quick work of mixing the solution, setting the hot plate to ‘5’, and sterilizing the pennies.

Vegeta tried to keep watch of Zarbon the whole time, but he had trouble because he was facing the opposite direction. 

Zarbon seemed to be completely ignoring him until they took the plated pennies and put them on the plate. Vegeta didn’t see him, but he knew Zarbon was the one that ‘bumped’ into him, causing him to slip down toward the table.

He held his hands out on instinct to catch himself, and his right hand fell directly on the burning hot plate.

He winced and jumped, holding back a pained yelp. He held his wrist hard, squeezing just to hold onto something. Tien was speaking to him, but Vegeta couldn’t hear him over the alarms going off in his head. He whispered Swiss-German swears to himself for no reason other than to feel as if he had a little bit of his senses left. Tien led him back to the front of the room after turning the plate off, apparently explaining the accident to Tao before walking him to the basement, finding the nurses office next to the gym.

The nurse flustered over Vegeta for a moment rushing him to the sink to run the burn under flowing cold water. 

The shock was gone and replaced by anger. Tien knew as well as Vegeta did, Zarbon had definitely pushed him on purpose. His skin was now bubbled and aching. Thankfully, none of the bubbles broke open on the way down, or he would be at risk for a skin infection. The nurse slathered cooling gel all over his palm, giving him a small tube of it to reapply throughout the day. 

Both Vegeta and Tien thanked her on the way out and headed back up the stairs to the Chem room. They had to pass by the gym doors, and they both made eye contact with Goku, who happened to be running by during laps. He didn’t look happy at all, angry even, and that made both of the boys nervous. 

By the time they got back the block was almost over, everyone was packing up and getting ready to move on to their next classes. Tien helped Vegeta put all of his papers in the cover of his book and slipped it into his left hand.

Vegeta gave him a quiet but heartfelt thank you before leaving the room. He remembered how he ran into Goku yesterday in the back stairwells, so he decided to go to Economics through the main halls.

Despite his efforts to avoid Goku, they still ran into each other as Goku was going to History. He made eye contact with Vegeta again, just or a split second, and he still looked upset. Vegeta had to wonder what had him so miffed, but it wasn’t his place to ask questions, so he ignored it. 

He hadn’t had an Economics class yet that week, but he knew Whis, so he wasn’t too worried about it. He sat down at a free desk and did his best to avoid touching anything with his right hand, but that meant he was unable to take notes. 

He knew Whis would be understanding, but he was more concerned about remembering the material. He could write with his left hand, but messy penmanship bothered him and he would rather rely on his memory than try to decode handwriting that looked like a child’s. 

Whis gave him a few questioning glances during pauses in the lecture, obviously spotting his burn. Vegeta shrugged at him every single time, hoping that he wouldn’t ask questions. Aside from that, the class went by fairly quickly, and the material was simple enough. Vegeta glanced down at his schedule, not looking forward to heading downstairs for English. He had a feeling that seeing Goku would be the worst thing that could happen.

Thankfully, Whis pulled him aside after the bell rung.

“You’re injured.” 

He would’ve grabbed onto his wrist if he wasn’t holding his notebook in his left hand, “Yeah, there was an accident in Chem and I got burned,” he explained vaguely. 

Whis tutted his tongue, “Why do I feel like this has something to do with Son? Vegeta, I’m a friend before I’m your teacher. You can come to me with anything you need, alright? That includes advice on how to handle that kid.”

Vegeta shook his head shyly. Just before he left the room he provided a weak excuse to leave and the cause of his burn.

The bell signaling the beginning of third block echoed through the halls just as he stepped into Mr. Popo’s classroom. He gave a small apology for being late and quickly sat down in his regular seat in front of Goku. He still looked angry for some reason. 

Vegeta hoped he wouldn’t do anything during class that would embarrass both of them, but it was unlikely. At least, he thought it was. 

Not ten minutes into the lecture, Goku tapped him on the shoulder. It reminded Vegeta of his first day here, and oddly enough, the tapping had the same effect as it did Monday. He tried to ignore it.

“‘Geta.” He whispered.

Vegeta shook his head, dismissing him silently.

Goku leaned over his shoulder to whisper directly into his ear, “Your hand is hurt. What happened?”

Vegeta shook his head again, unresponsive. He refused to tell him that Zarbon was the reason for his burn, that would only end badly. So he stayed stubborn, not even letting on a single clue as to what happened.

Knowing he wouldn’t get any information from him, Goku settled back into his seat with a huff. He hated being right. All this Zarbon drama was pushing Vegeta away in a way he didn’t want. He still wanted Vegeta to trust him, to tell him when something was wrong, but he refused to even explain a simple injury. It bruised his ego to think about it, so he didn’t.

Both boys spent the entire class aloof and focusing too much on one another, listening and watching for any sort of move from one another. 

The bell rang and everyone filed from the room to head to lunch. Vegeta was unsure of where to go, but he figured that he would stay in the hall. That’s where he sat every other time he wasn’t with Goku, so why change it? He had a feeling that Goku wouldn’t drag him to the table with everyone watching, especially because Bulma had probably already told everyone what had happened between them. He leaned his head against the wall and pulled out his phone. There was a text from Goku that he hadn’t opened before leaving the house.

 **No problem, ‘Geta. I just want what’s best for you.** 6:45 am

As soon as he closed the conversation and turned off his phone, there was a huge crash from inside the cafeteria. Vegeta had a strange suspicion of what was happening, and he really didn’t want to see it. 

But he had to. 

Standing and making his way to peek around the edge of the doorframe, he had trouble seeing over everyone standing up, but one thing he could clearly hear was Goku screaming. He was _pissed_ , and it was scary. 

Mr. Yemma rushed into the middle of the pit of students, most of them clearing out enough for Vegeta to see. Goku was on top of someone, still swinging even when Yemma was behind him, trying to pull him off.

With tremendous effort, Goku was finally pulled off of whoever he decided to bludgeon. He stood, visibly breathing hard, and there appeared to be blood on his knuckles. He spat down on the person laying on the floor, and that made Yemma pull him back even more. The kid on the ground rose, and Vegeta wasn’t sure if he was surprised to see Zarbon or not.

He had a possibly broken nose, blood pouring from his face to stain his light blue shirt. He lifted the back of his hand to wipe away the spit that had landed on his cheek. For a second it looked like he was going to attack Goku back, but he obviously thought against it, knowing that he would only get beaten worse. 

Mr. Yemma grabbed Goku by the bicep, hard it seemed, and dragged the tall boy from the room, in the direction of the office. Once Goku was gone and everyone had calmed down, Zarbon was escorted to the nurse by another supervisor. Deciding that it was safe enough, Vegeta ventured into the café, stealthily sneaking his way to Goku’s table. 

Tien pulled him down into Goku’s usual seat next to him, “Do you have any idea what just happened, man?”

Vegeta shook his head, “I might have a clue.”

Tien held his hands out and laid them on the table, bracing himself, “So ya know how we saw Son in the gym when we were heading back to Chem?”

Vegeta nodded. Tien nodded back.

“Yeah, alright. So he thought that we were skipping class together and that I was tryna steal you from him,” he blushed, “I’d never do that, for the record, but that’s not the point,” He cleared his throat, glancing to Launch, “Well, he asked me about it and I said ‘No, of course not, dude, I wouldn’t do that to you! I was just makin’ sure he got to the nurse and back alright.’”

Vegeta crossed his arms on the table, tilting his head, “And?”

Tien shook his head, “And I told him, ya know, about Zarbon pushin’ ya into the burner on purpose and you gettin’ hurt and everything… And he just… He just stood up and went to beat the fuck outta him! I think he broke his nose or somethin’.”

Vegeta stared at the table for a moment, “He did that for me?”

“Yeah, I know he said what he said the other day, but that kinda proves that he really didn’t want to. He just risked getting expelled because some punk made you burn your hand.”

“I… I don’t even know what to say.” Vegeta stared at his burned hand, making a mental note to put some more gel on it after lunch.

“I don’t think anyone does, man. I’ve seen Son in a lot of fights, and he’s always pulled back before drawing blood,” Yamcha commented, “He was so fuckin’ angry, I actually thought that he was gonna rip through everyone in this room.”

Vegeta swallowed, “Well? What do I do now?”

Chichi cleared her throat, “Knowing Yemma, Son is gonna get a whole week and then some of detention. Maybe you should join him. I’m sure he’d appreciate being able to talk to you and make sure you’re alright.”

Vegeta nodded, suddenly determined, “Thanks, guys. I’m gonna go now. Gotta get detention.”

He marched from the room, first stopping in the middle of the hall to fix up his burn a little before running off to decide who’s day to fuck up.

Yemma. He would probably be in his office with Goku, so Vegeta ran up the stairs and down the main hall, skidding to a stop outside the tall oak door. 

He wasn’t sure what he planned on doing when he barged in there, but he didn’t care. He pushed through the door without knocking, getting the attention of both Yemma and Goku, who stared at him like he had two heads.

“‘Geta, what’re ya-”

“Shut up! You!” He pointed to the principal, “You can suck on my left nut!” He heard Goku giggle a bit as he rushed forward and batted a pencil tin so hard that it flew across the room, hit the wall, and fell to the floor with a clatter.

Mr. Yemma sighed deep from his chest and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Mr. Breigh, would you take a seat, please?” 

Vegeta crossed his arms and plopped down into the plush seat next to Goku, “Vegeta. I think we all know what you’re trying to do here, and it won’t work.”

Vegeta crossed his legs, “I have not the slightest idea of what you’re referring to.”

Yemma looked at him pointedly, “You’re trying to get detention so you can either see Son after school, or so you can prove yourself to him. Either way, it’s pathetic and I’m unimpressed. Frankly, I’m quite disappointed in you. I was counting on you being a good influence on this boy, but ever since you’ve came around, he’s been doing nothing but starting tiffs with other students. Three this week! Of course I’m not giving you detention. I want to do everything I can to keep your contact with him at a minimum.”

Both boys looked at their elder in pure horror, and he held his finger up, “I’m not going to have your schedules changed, but I am definitely not giving you detention, and even if I did, it wouldn’t be in the same room as him,” He laced his fingers together in front of him, “The only other reason I refuse to punish you is because I know for a fact that your actions were driven by Son, and given that he hadn’t beaten another student to the point of bleeding, you wouldn’t have even come here. Now, go to your next class, Mr. Breigh. And behave yourself.”

Vegeta stuttered for a retort for a moment before catching Goku’s pleading eyes and sighing. Defeated, he walked from the office with his head down. His efforts were for nothing, and he had horribly embarrassed himself in front of Goku after the kid had just gotten himself into trouble for him. 

In short, he felt shitty. He had missed Astronomy the other day when Goku had hit his head, so he had no idea where that class was, except that it was probably somewhere in the science wing. 

After a few minutes of wandering around, Vegeta found room 272. The room was dark, but there were definitely people inside, so he strolled in, looking around at the lit display on the ceiling.

“And here’s Caelum. Can one of you tell me what the magni-... Oh, hello,” the teacher turned to him, clicking his red laser off, “And who are you?”

Vegeta had yet to meet a teacher who had no idea who he was. He cleared his throat, but Chichi answered for him.

“That’s Vegeta, the Swiss boy.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Come, in, son, make yourself comfortable.”

Vegeta looked around for a spare seat, and Chichi waved her arm in the air to beckon him over. He scootched around the room and planted himself next to her, “What the hell was that?”

She shushed him with a finger to her lips, “That’s Mr. Shu,” she whispered, “He looks nice, but don’t even think about stepping out of line. He can be ruthless if he doesn’t like ya.”

He nodded, looking back up at the ceiling.

“As I was saying, who can name the absolute magnitude of Alpha Caeli?”

Chichi raised her hand immediately, “2.92.”

Shu pointed his laser at her, “Correct. Now…”

His voice faded off into Vegeta’s subconscious as he lost himself in thought. 

Goku really had beaten the shit out of Zarbon for giving him a little burn. He couldn’t say that it wasn’t endearing, in a strange way. And Goku looked pretty hot all out of breath like that.

Vegeta shook his head. No, he was just trying to show Zarbon where his place was. It had absolutely nothing to do with him. But he really wished it did. 

He was more pissed than he was flattered, though. He wasn’t able to get detention again and try to talk to Goku about what had happened and maybe get some answers from him. Sure, he always had the option of texting, but Vegeta preferred talking face to face compared to through a phone. That, and he just wanted an excuse to see Goku again. He had a nasty feeling that he may not be seeing much of him anymore. 

Maybe he should accept the offer Mr. Popo gave him to move in… Surely Goku’s parents would still want him around, right? Then he wouldn’t have a choice! But that seemed a bit dishonest, and it would hurt Vegeta a lot if he moved in and was in constant contact with Goku, but he was just pushed away the whole time…

No, he wouldn’t do that. He would definitely talk to Goku about it before the weekend. He was quite sure they had study hall together last block, maybe he would be able to pull him aside and talk a little bit without attracting too much attention to themselves.

Vegeta left astronomy to head down to the cafeteria, hoping to see and sign of Goku. But he wasn’t there. Vegeta sat at the table in the corner and leaned against the wall, watching all the exits in hopes to spot Goku coming to class late. 

Ten minutes after the bell rung, Vegeta started to lose hope. Goku lost track of time quite often, but never this bad. He must’ve been held in Yemma’s office or taken to the conference room. Maybe they just sent him home for the day. 

He checked his phone. No texts from Goku. While that was unusual, it was more concerning than strange. He hoped he was alright. He ignored the texts from Bulma and Tien, shutting his phone off and slipping it back in his pocket. 

Vegeta decided to pass the rest of study hall by with homework. There wasn’t much of it, but it was enough to keep him engaged until the final bell of the day.

Today would be his first time riding home at a normal time and getting there before dark. It felt strange to step onto the bus home with Bulma and Trunks. They never seemed to stop talking about the fight. Most people seemed that they rooted for Goku, but that didn’t make the situation any more bearable. 

The trip home took much longer than ten minutes. Goku would bring him straight home, but on the bus, he had to wait for other students to get off beforehand. The three of them got home almost last because they lived too far from the school. Vegeta was thankful to be getting off, he was sitting for far too long and his ass was starting to hurt.

Being home early had a few advantages, like he was able to eat well before heading to bed, instead of stuffing himself immediately before passing out. And he was able to enjoy his room in daylight instead of nasty yellow of lightbulbs. 

He was still curious about where Goku was. He had texted him a few times, asking if he was okay, but there was no response to any of them. He watched from his top floor bedroom window down at Goku’s house. The bright blue truck was nowhere to be seen, and only his parents seemed to be home. 

He decided to wait. Goku had waited for him to get home last night, even threatened to come out and find him in the dark if it meant he got home safely. The least he could do was make sure he got home at all. 

He got home right at 5:25, just like he was supposed to. Vegeta was relieved, to say the least. After the incident, he had been overly worried about Goku. He knew that he had no reason to even give it a thought, Goku did things like this all the time, but he couldn’t help it. Goku was so protective and nice to him, he had to return the gesture, even if Goku didn’t need him to. 

The rest of the day went smoothly, Vegeta’s hand had stopped swelling and the blisters had gone down significantly. He was hardly in pain anymore, he was able to do his homework last block, so that had to have been a good sign. The cooling gel was working wonders as well, keeping the ache down and stopping Vegeta from losing his mind over how much it still would’ve felt like it was burning.

He still kept his hand out of the stream of his nightly shower, though, he didn’t want to irritate it with hot water or anything of the sort.


	5. Friday, October 20th

In the morning, the skin of his palm had darkened to a gross reddish brown color, but it didn’t hurt much at all, so he decided that it wouldn’t be much of an inconvenience. 

He went about his daily routine, eating, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, and leaving for the bus. 

He caught a bit of eye contact with Goku as he left, noticing that he looked much happier than he did yesterday. He looked as if he was actually willing to maybe talk to him that day, but by the looks of it, the only class they had together that day was Films, and that wasn’t necessarily the best class to have a conversation in. 

His day went by in the most boring way possible. He had study hall first thing in the morning, and while he appreciated the extra time to wake up fully, he wanted to get going with his day. Sitting still made him anxious. 

When the bell for second block rang, he all but ran upstairs to chemistry. Though he had gotten hurt the day before, there wasn’t a lab activity that would put him at risk that day. Tao was nice enough to ask how his hand was doing, and he told him ‘Fine, just a bit sore, but I’ll live’.

The Chem block was quiet. Everyone was writing their lab reports on the school laptops, so even if Zarbon wanted to cause a scene, he wouldn’t be able to do it without everyone seeing. So he was safe for the time being. Vegeta did find an opportunity to silently laugh at his black eye, though. 

They took a break halfway through for lunch, leaving for the cafeteria for half an hour and going back upstairs. 

Vegeta was becoming annoyed with how uneventful the day had been thus far. He knew it had everything to do with Goku not sharing any of his classes, but he wouldn’t admit that to himself. The rest of Chem went by as the rest of the day already had. Boring.

And of course, immediately after Chemistry, he had another study hall to contend with. Goku wasn’t in this one either, they had passed in the halls on their way to class. He was going to Chem, and while the two classrooms were floors apart, it still felt like he was right there with Vegeta the whole time. He couldn’t stop thinking about Goku.

What his punishment was for the fight; where his classes were; what he was doing that may have been fun while Vegeta was stuck sitting in the Cafeteria for two and a half hours already that day. 

Vegeta sat catatonic for most of study hall, save for the ten minutes he spent playing a game on his phone so he didn’t die of boredom. He checked his schedule, happy to see that he had Astronomy fourth block. Finally, an interesting class that would at least keep his attention for more than half a second.

He was woefully proven wrong when Mr. Shu presented everyone with a quiz. Despite not being in class for the first month of the year, he was still required to take it, for some reason. He wasn’t sure how well he did, he recalled a few facts from back home, but it had been so long since he’d gone over them that they very well may have been wrong.

Sure, it had kept his attention, but that didn’t mean he liked it. He mentally declared this the most useless day he’s ever had. 

But he had Films class next. He had seen Goku earlier, but that didn’t mean he would be in class with him. Knowing Goku, he would probably skip just so they didn’t have to see each other. Vegeta vaguely hoped that he wouldn’t. He really missed Goku, at least, more than he thought he would. 

Vegeta walked into the classroom, immediately searching for Goku. He was there, in his normal seat in the back. He looked tired, poor thing. Vegeta knew that he’d been having late days all week, possibly not getting very good sleep.

Sitting together wasn’t an option, so Vegeta watched him out of the corner of his eye as he walked to his own seat. 

Predictably, the movie was the least riveting thing he’d ever had the displeasure of laying his eyes on. He sighed to himself and blankly stared across the room at a much more interesting movie poster. 

Goku moved a bit, waving his hand a little. Vegeta looked away from the poster to look at him. Goku smiled, waving again. Vegeta saw that the hand that as still resting on the desk was bruised and cut up. He guessed it had something to do with the fight yesterday. He really couldn’t get over the fact that Goku actually beat Zarbon up bad enough to hurt himself. It was concerning, but it really struck a chord. 

He made eye contact with the taller boy, giving him a small smile. Goku smiled back, putting his hand back down. It didn’t seem like Goku really wanted to tell him anything, they just shared gazes for a moment before Goku turned away, visibly hesitating to break the contact. 

They looked at each other again a few minutes later, and Goku pulled his phone from his pocket, wiggling it back and forth so Vegeta would see.

Furrowing his brow, Vegeta pulled his own phone from his pocket, checking his texts. He looked back up a few times to confirm, and Goku just nodded.

 **You alright? I’ve been worried about you.** 1:13 pm

Vegeta laughed to himself a bit and texted him back.

 **I’m fine. If anything I’ve been worried about you. You really beat the shit out of Zarbon yesterday, didn’t you?** 1:17 pm

They went back and forth for a minute.

 **Vegeta, he hurt you. I left so that wouldn’t happen and it did anyway. I was angry and I felt terrible that I couldn’t protect you.** 1:18 pm

 **As much as I appreciate the gesture, I’m fine. My burn is healing okay. The only thing that’s bothering me is that I miss you.** 1:18 pm

Vegeta heard a little chuckle.

 **And here I am thinking that you were mad at me.** 1:19 pm

 **Oh, I am. Furious, actually. But I miss you a lot. I’m constantly thinking about you.** 1:20 pm

 **That’s creepy, Geta.** 1:20 pm

 **Shut up.** 1:20 pm

They spent the rest of the block sneaking occasional glances at each other, and before Vegeta could even have the chance to get bored, the final bell rang and he had to go home. He gave a silent departing wave to Goku as he walked out, heading back outside to the buses. 

He was too distracted to listen to Trunks and Bulma blabber on about whatever they did. Goku had actually shared some conversation with him for the first time in a few days. He had no idea how much he missed it until it was given to him. The few minutes he took talking to him were great. It felt almost like things were back to the way they were supposed to be, but not quite.

Still in a daze, Vegeta skipped eating to go sit at his window in waiting for Goku again. Bulma and Trunks came up for a few minutes to talk and bullshit with him, laughing about this and that, gossiping with each other.

Vegeta wasn’t very invested in it, he was too focused on waiting for Goku to get home. They hadn’t texted since last block, and Vegeta already missed him. Not knowing that he was home and safe bothered Vegeta in a weird way. 

Bulma and Trunks left for dinner, inviting Vegeta down, but he refused in favor of sitting at his window. He wanted to make sure Goku got home fine.

5:25 rolled by, no Goku.

5:30. 5:45. 6:15. 6:30…

It was getting dark, and Goku was supposed to be home over an hour ago. Vegeta was beginning to worry. He took a deep breath and stood, heading to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.

Logically he knew Goku would be fine. He was a big boy, he could take care of himself. Regardless, Vegeta had to wonder where in the world he was. 

A strike of jealousy hit him as he imagined Goku with someone else. It immediately gave him a headache and he splashed his face again.

Bulma was passing by the bathroom as he was huffing, trying to reason with himself that Goku would never do such a thing. She peeked her head in, looking concerned.

“You okay, Vegeta?”

He braced himself on the sink, looking down, “Son isn’t home yet.”

Bulma nodded, leaning against the doorframe, “I see. Did you consider going over there?”

He looked at her, face dripping, “Excuse you?”

She shrugged, looking off, “You could go over there. His parents probably know where he is.”

“His parents?”

Bulma laughed, “Well, yeah. You were gonna meet them eventually anyway.”

Vegeta sighed. He wasn’t sure that was actually true. Shaking his head, he left the bathroom and went downstairs to slip his shoes on and walk the few hundred feet down the road to Goku’s front door.

Though he knew Goku wasn’t inside, his stomach still felt weird. He chalked it up to nervousness and pressed the small brass doorbell.

A voice, obviously belonging to a woman, shouted, “Bardock, dear! Get the door!”

Vegeta bounced on his feet, the knot in his belly only becoming more painful. The door audibly unlocked and swung open, revealing a man that looked much like Goku, but skinnier and a few inches shorter.

“Well hello, Vegeta. We’ve been wondering when you’d drop by. Come in, come in,” Bardock stepped aside, clearing a path for Vegeta to walk through the door. 

Bardock shouted back to the woman that was supposedly his wife, “Gine! It’s Vegeta!”

“Oh!” There was a crashing noise a few rooms over, and a few seconds later a short, plump-faced woman trotted toward the door, wiping her hands on her apron, “Vegeta! It’s nice to finally meet you!” She went right in for a hug, pulling Vegeta to her side like he had been her friend for years, “Have you eaten yet? Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Vegeta’s head was reeling, he had to take a second to steady himself, “I haven’t eaten, no.”

“Perfect! Come, come.” She ushered him in, hand on his back. He was sat at a large oak table, far too big for a family of three. Bardock sat at the head of the table to his right, and they sat for only a few seconds before Gine swept back in and set plates of food in front of them, only to disappear into the kitchen again. 

There was a high shriek from down the hall, paired with pattering feet. Vegeta peered over the edge of the table to see a little girl, no older than six, pull herself up into one of the high-set chairs across from Vegeta. She froze, looking at him and her father.  
Bardock cleared his throat, “Raditz, are you going to greet our guest?”

She shook her head and looked back to Vegeta looking at him strangely, “Hello, sir.”

Vegeta could help but laugh a little. It was obvious that the little girl had no idea what she was doing, that was just what she was taught, “Hello, young lady.”

She bounced in her seat, “Yer Bubba’s boyfriend, ain’cha?! He talks ‘bout ya all the time!”

“Um,” Vegeta wasn’t sure how to respond. ‘Bubba’ was clearly Goku, it was the boyfriend bit that confused him, “Boyfriend?”

Gine set a plate in front of Raditz, who kept bouncing and shoveled a piece of meat into her mouth, “Yea! He talks about ya like yer datin’!”

Gine sat down at the other end of the table and set a napkin in her lap, “Raditz, please. Let the boy eat.”

Vegeta shook his head, “No, it’s okay. I came over cause I’m worried about Son. I thought he was supposed to be home an hour ago.” He staked a piece of meat and neatly put it in his mouth.

“Oh!” Gine set down her fork, “He’s at the farm for the weekend.”

Vegeta nodded. He did recall Krillin saying something about Goku leaving for the weekend to work. He guessed that he forgot in his panic, “Oh, yeah. I suppose that would be logical.” He took another bite.

“But really, son,” Bardock prompted after swallowing a mouthful, “What’s your relationship with Goku? He seems very fond of you.”

Vegeta still didn’t know how to go about the ‘boyfriend’ subject, “He’s uh… We’re not dating, I don’t think.”

“But you’d like to.” It was more of a statement than a question.

Of course he’d like to. It’s all he’s been able to think about since the first time he brought him to the lunch table and adopted him into his group of friends. But he wasn’t sure if that was what Goku wanted anymore.

Nodding at his silence, Bardock chuckled, “He does speak of you a lot. It’s convenient that we wanted you to transfer in with us and you two hit it off unprovoked.”

Vegeta didn’t want to say anything about Zarbon, that would only blow up the situation more, “Uh, I do like Son a great deal.”

That was the closest he could come to admitting it without his voice shaking.

“Daddy!” Raditz squeaked, “If ‘Geta ain’t gonna be Bubba’s boyfriend, can he be _my_ boyfriend instead?”

Bardock shook his head, “No, princess. Anyway,” He turned back to Vegeta, “You two do have my blessings if you-”

“Ma!” Goku shouted from the front door, “Ya know where my pick is?! Ah forgot it for the horses!”

Vegeta froze. No. 

“BUBBA!!” Raditz screamed and ran toward the front door, launching herself from the ground and into Goku’s arms.

“Oof! Hey, ‘Ditzy! Where’s Ma?” 

Raditz wiggled around in his arms and he lifted her over his head to rest on his shoulders. He walked out into the dining room and stopped, making blank eye contact with Vegeta.

Gine cleared her throat, “I think it’s hanging in your closet.”

“Bubba! If ‘Geta isn’t gonna be yer boyfriend can he be mine? Daddy said no but I wanna know what you think!” She leaned over the top of Goku’s head, shouting down at him with his hair balled into her tiny fists.

“Vegeta.” Goku lifted Raditz from his shoulders and patted her in the direction of her seat.

“Son.”

While the two stared at each other, Bardock spoke up, “Vegeta came over because he was worried about you. He noticed that you never came home.”

Goku nodded, still unsure of how to go about this. Vegeta was sitting in his house, eating dinner with his family. 

“Bubba?”

Goku looked away to look at his little sister, “What is it, ‘Ditzy?”

She bounced again, “Is ‘Geta yer boyfriend?”

It was the most loaded question he had ever been asked. He looked back to Vegeta, sighing, “Ah mean… I want ‘im to be, anyway.”

There were a few moments of silence, “Goku, you know how we feel about this.” Gine stood and placed a gentle hand on Goku’s arm. He nodded with a frown.

“Ah… Ah dunno. He ain’t safe.” He whispered to himself, but shook his head a few seconds later, “‘Geta,”

Vegeta just nodded, scared for Goku’s next words.

“Ya wanna be my boyfriend?”

“Of course I do, you idiot.”

“Alright,” Goku placed his hands on his hips, “That settles it, then. Wanna come to the farm with me? Ah’ll show ya around, the house is real nice and warm at night.”

Again, Vegeta didn’t know what to say, “You want me to come spend the night with you at the farm?”

Goku shrugged, “Yeah, why not?”

Vegeta shook his head, full well knowing what could possibly happen, “No good reason, I guess.”

“Good. You finish eatin’ an’ Ah’m gonna go get my stuff. You’ll wanna go back home and get a change of clothes or two,” he left the room with a wave, “Then we’ll go.”

Raditz tried to run after him, but Gine caught her arm just as she was about to escape, “Not so fast little one, you better eat your dinner before you try anything funny.”

The little girl pouted and walked back to her seat, arms crossed, “Bubba would let me…”

“Well, Bubba’s not your daddy. Finish up and you can say bye to him when he leaves.”

She picked up her little fork and poked at her food, a chubby cheek resting in her other hand, “Fine…”

Vegeta finished his own food and brought his plate into the kitchen to rinse it off and stick it in the sink, “Thanks for having me, Mrs. Son.”

Gine laughed, pulling Vegeta in for another hug. She was just barely shorter than him, “You stop it with that ‘Mrs. Son’ business. Call me Gine. And you’re welcome over anytime,” She pulled him to the front door, turning around when out of earshot of Raditz and Bardock, a stony expression on what used to be her cheery face.

“Now you listen here… You better keep around. You make my son the happiest he’s been a real long time and I want him to stay that way,” He held him by the face, the palms of her hands warm against his cheeks, “You’re a good boy, I can tell. Just make sure you keep my kid in line, understand?”

The sudden serious tone of her voice scared Vegeta, and he nodded quick and swallowed, “Yes, Ma’am.”

Her scary demeanor vanished and she smiled brightly at him, patting his face lightly, “Good. Now you go get on.” Just then, Goku came back down the stairs, a small metal pick in hand.

“Ready?”

Vegeta just nodded, overwhelmed with all different kinds of emotions. Raditz ran from the kitchen and latched herself onto Goku’s leg, rubbing her chubby little face into the side of his thigh.

“You be safe workin’ Bubba! Don’ let the horses crush ya!” She hugged him hard one last time before letting go. Goku chuckled and crouched down to her eye level, mussing up her out of control hair, “Don’tchu worry ‘bout me, ‘Ditzy. You behave for Ma and Papa while Ah’m gone, alright?”

The little girl nodded, hugging Goku around the neck one more time. He hugged her back with both arms, smoothing her hair down to fix it. She let go and Goku stood up, giving her a small wave as he opened the front door for Vegeta. He followed after, giving one final goodbye to his parents and sister. The two of them hopped into the cab of the truck and Goku twisted around to toss the pick in the tiny backseat.

They pulled out and stalled right in front of the Briefs house, and Vegeta got out again, rushing inside.

Vegeta avoided the questions that Bulma threw at him. A few of them being about where Goku was. He shoved her off, giving a half-assed explanation that he was ‘going out’ and he would be back in a few days. 

He threw a few outfits into a drawstring bag and tossed it over his back, patting his pocket to check for his phone and grabbing his charger, though he had a feeling he wouldn’t really be using his phone much at all.

Bulma, still on with her pestering questions, followed Vegeta downstairs and peeked out the front door as he left. Vegeta could hear her squealing even after he had gotten back in the truck and closed the door. 

Goku gave him a strange affectionate smile before pulling away, turning right out of the gate. 

The two sat in silence for a minute before Goku let go of the wheel with one hand, spreading it open on the center console as an invitation for Vegeta to hold it. He took hold almost immediately, and it made Goku grin.

Vegeta cleared his throat, “Why?”

Goku kept his eyes on the road, but his smile got bigger, “Why what?”

“Don’t play dumb, Son. What changed your mind all of a sudden? Two days ago you were so certain about us staying apart.” Vegeta looked down at their intertwined hands as Goku squeezed them and ran a calloused thumb around.

“You got hurt. And even though Ah told ya that it wouldn’t work, Zarbon still went after ya,” He squeezed again, lighter that time, “Ah figure, Ah might as well be around anyway, so Ah can protect ya.”

Vegeta looked up at his face, sucking on his bottom lip. He supposed that it made sense, that was what he was thinking the whole time they were separated.

“You didn’t tell me you had a sister.”

Goku laughed, pulling his hand from Vegeta’s to take a left, “Yeah, she’s somethin’ isn’ she? Cutest little shit in the world.”

“She really is cute. I think it’s sweet how she looks up to you.” He slipped his hand back into Goku’s.

“She’s always been like that. Right when she was born she held onto me and really never let go. Most big brothers would find it annoying but really… Ah’m glad Ah got someone coun’in’ on me.” A serene look covered Goku’s face. It was obvious to Vegeta that he loved his little sister a lot. It was really nice to watch them interact back at the house, it made Vegeta miss his brother back home.

He had never had a great relationship with Tarble. They were a lot closer in age than Goku and Raditz were, and that may have been a factor in their tiffs, but every once in awhile he thought about him and their father. He missed being home, but being in America with Goku was so nice that he couldn’t bring himself to miss it too badly. 

“Your mother is nice.” Vegeta commented. He never knew his mother very well, she had died only a few years after Tarble was born. He doesn’t even remember what she died from. All that was left of her were pictures of her holding Vegeta and Tarble as babies and a few wedding photos.

Goku laughed, “Don’t let her fool ya. She’s a real nice lady but she’s damn scary when she’s mad.”

Vegeta shivered, thinking about her expression when she had talked to him in private about Goku, “I can imagine.”

They passed by the school, heading the opposite direction where sat a series of back roads. The radio wasn’t on, but the silence between them was comfortable. As Vegeta stared out the window at the brightly colored leaves on the trees and ground, he remembered something.

He blushed, looking down at their joined hands, “So, uh, what are we gonna do this weekend?”

Goku shrugged, taking a right with one hand, “Whatever ya want, Ah guess. Ah could take ya ridin’ if ya want,”

Vegeta’s blush intensified, and Goku noticed the extended silence, blushing himself, “Ah meant on the horses.”

“U-uh… Yeah. I knew that,”

The light from the sun was almost gone by the time they pulled into a hidden driveway, going down a dirt path for about a quarter mile before reaching a clearing. There was a three-story barn, a wide pasture, and a big farmhouse. Both buildings looked ancient, but a motion light turned on when they got close enough.

“Uh… Krillin’s uncle… He doesn’t mind me being here, right?” He let go of Goku’s hand and got out of the truck with him. Goku chuckled a bit, snatching the hook before shutting the door.

“Nah, Roshi’s out of town for the weekend. He’s told me before that Ah’m allowed to do whatever Ah want as long as the work gets done. Besides, it ain’t like we’re doin’ nothin’ wrong.” Goku went to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate, pulling a few bags out and hiking them over his shoulder. 

He beckoned Vegeta to follow him, pulling a key ring from his belt loop to unlock the door to the barn. He separated the padlock and hung it on the door, pulling it wide open. He reached out to the left without looking, flicking on the lights.

Horse stalls lined the length of the barn, all of them having chalkboard painted nameplates fastened on the front. Goku dropped the bags down onto the hay-covered floor, walking further into the building.

Vegeta followed, peering into the stalls. Most of the horses had laid themselves down and were sleeping or close to it. There were a bunch of chickens as well, all tucked into themselves, just as asleep as everything else in the barn.

“Sorry, ‘Geta. Ah just gotta gather up the rest of these eggs,”

There was a half full, lined wicker basket hanging from a shelf hook, and Goku took it down, making rounds again with the chickens, gently burrowing his hands beneath them to gather the fresh eggs. He placed them in the basket along with all the others, patting down the feathers of the last chicken, who had woken up in the midst of his pillaging. 

She squawked at him quietly, voicing her displeasure with his intrusion. He shushed her, moving the eggs from her line of sight and gently scratching at the feathers behind her head.

She cooed, settling down again. Goku took a deep, quiet breath and stood up again, the basket hanging from his fingers. He smiled at Vegeta from where he stood, happily strolling back over to him.

“Say hello to tomorrow's breakfast.” He held up the basket as he walked back outside. He set it down to close up the barn again, not bothering to lock it fully. He just looped the padlock through the holes, leaving it open.

He took Vegeta’s hand in one of his, the eggs in the other, and pulled him toward the back of the house.

He let go of Vegeta’s hand to open the door, pushing it open into a dark room. Again, without looking, he flicked on the lights.

They were in a huge kitchen, obviously aged quite a bit. The linoleum floor was cracked from dry rot in some places and the oak table had scratches in it and part of the stain was missing and worn a little here and there. 

The appliances were all new, though, a shiny metal refrigerator, a matching oven, the whole nine. 

Vegeta looked around, actually kind of impressed. He lived similarly back home. The wealth of the Briefs took him by surprise when he had moved in. Their house was definitely much more extravagant than his own. This farmhouse already felt familiar, and he had hardly been in it for thirty seconds. 

He hummed in appreciation at the warmth, as well. Late October was chilly at best, so the toastiness inside was welcome. 

Goku kicked off his boots and went to set the basket on the counter. Vegeta followed, pulling his sneakers off, keeping close to Goku. After not being able to be this close to him in a few days, Vegeta refused to take his freedom for granted. 

Goku sighed, “It’s only 7:30.”

The simple statement was actually surprising. Vegeta nodded, getting close to Goku but not touching, “I’m already tired. It’s been a long day.”

Goku made a strange noise between a hum and a grunt, making his way to the sink. He turned on the cold water, taking each of the eggs one by one and gently hand washing them. It took him a few minutes, there were about thirty eggs. When finished, he placed them back into the basket after tossing the soiled liner in the trash and slid them onto a shelf in the near-empty refrigerator. 

He placed his hands on his hips and sighed, turning back to Vegeta, “I don’t have to do anything else today, so the rest of tonight is ours if we want it,”

Vegeta sighed, braving to move in for a hug. Goku wrapped his arms around the smaller frame, pulling him close, “I missed you, ‘Geta.”

Vegeta rubbed his face into Goku’s chest. He smelled like farm, “I missed you too.”

They stood like that for a minute, silently enjoying the contact they were denied. Vegeta soon relaxed and melted into Goku’s arms, slouching a bit. Goku chuckled all warm, “Ah should show ya ‘round, huh?”

Vegeta pulled away and followed Goku to the room on the left. It was a big but cozy den, with dark stained wood for wall panels and what looks like homemade rugs lying about most of the floor. There was a large television in the corner, facing a long leather sofa. On the other side of the room were a recliner and a loveseat. 

The couch looked worn only on one side, but the loveseat and everything else except for the recliner seemed brand new. Vegeta took a guess that Roshi usually used the recliner and Goku used the couch. 

“Like it?”

Vegeta nodded, looking around again, “It feels like home.”

Goku pulled Vegeta to him by the waist, leading him into the next room, “That’s good. Here’s the downstairs bathroom.”

The door to the bathroom sat at the end of a staircase that was cut off with a horizontal door. Goku led him back through the living room and kitchen, turning down a hall. He pointed to the doors as he listed them off.

“That’s the laundry room, a guest bedroom, storage, and Uncle Roshi’s room.”

They turned back down the hall, “Where do you sleep?”

Goku kind of laughed to himself, going to the staircase next to the bathroom, “Up here. C’mon.” The two crawled up the steep stairs, and Goku undid a latch, pushing the door up through the floor. He sat on the edge of the drop-off and helped Vegeta the rest of the way up.

He looked around. The walls were the same as the ones in the den, all lined and stained wood. There was a queen size bed to the left, with a desk and a lamp. There was a small chest of drawers on that side as well. To the right was a futon, much like Vegeta’s bed back at the Briefs, but it was set up in the couch position, a game console sitting on the entertainment center underneath another TV, one much smaller than the one downstairs. 

There was a door right in front of the one on the floor, and Vegeta could only guess that it was the other bathroom. 

Goku spread his arms out wide, “Casa de Goku,”

Vegeta shook his head with a light laugh as Goku went to his bedside table and clicked the lamp on. Vegeta could see much better, and noticed candy wrappers and a few stray (probably dirty) clothes around the floor. 

All in all, it was a cute setup. Vegeta could clearly see Goku hanging out in here, but it seemed strange that he would have all these things here when he was just a farmhand. 

Goku seemed to read his mind, “Ah’ve known Krillin since we were little, and Ah’ve been working and helping out here since Ah was ‘Ditzy’s age. So Old Man Roshi decided to clean up the attic for me to stay in. Ah do come here almost every weekend anyway, even if Ah ain’t workin’.”

Vegeta nodded, unsure of what to say. He fully stood up and closed the door back down, going over to sit on the futon. He shook his head, “Where am I going to sleep?”

Goku paused, like he had been waiting for that question and was dreading it, “Well, uh, wherever ya want, Ah guess. The couch is pretty comfy, and the guest bedroom is always open if ya want…” It seemed like he wanted to say more. 

Vegeta shook it off, slipping his little bag from his back and leaning it against the wall.

“Or ya could stay in here.”

Vegeta nodded, that was what he was expecting from the get-go, “Sure. I like it up here.” When Goku had suggested spending the weekend here, he hadn’t even thought about sleeping anywhere other than where he was. He was glad that Goku had braved up enough to suggest it. 

Goku left the edge of his bed to go sit with Vegeta on the futon, “Well, that’s the whole house,” he put his hands on his knees, being sure to give Vegeta plenty of personal space. 

Vegeta sighed and took in the room again, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

Goku’s air immediately changed, he was nervous, that much was obvious, “I… Uh, I wanted to know if you still want me to move in. I mean I know it could be awkward and everything with th-”

“Yeah, of course Ah do,” Goku cut him off, “As soon as you told me that you might Ah asked my parents about it. They got a good look at your transfer papers, ya know.”

Vegeta just nodded. Goku smiled at him, “They really like ya, ‘Geta. You’re smart and well behaved and everythin’ that they want me to be,” He smiled sadly, “It’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but Ah know that they want me to be like you,” he shook his head, “But you’re too perfect. Ah can’t live up to ya like they want.”

Vegeta shook his head and grabbed one of Goku’s arms from his lap, “Don’t be dumb. I like you the way you are and so do they,” he ran his thumb over the back of his hand, “Besides, your mom told me that she just wants me around so you’ll stay in line.”

Goku chuckled a bit, turning his hand over, “That’s funny, considering that Ah beat up three different people this week.”

“For me…” Vegeta looked at their hands, noticing how small his were compared to Goku’s.

Goku nodded, staring at Vegeta as he looked down, “Yeah. For you.”

Vegeta looked up for a split second to see Goku’s eyes on him, and glanced back up when he realized that he wanted to see his face fully. 

They made eye contact for a moment before Vegeta whispered, “Thanks.”

Goku licked his lips, “No problem.”

Goku thought Vegeta was absolutely beautiful. He was small, but not in a girly way. His dark eyes held emotion constantly, he was always visibly thinking. He was so expressive, and though it may have seemed fake to some people, Goku knew that Vegeta was just being himself. His lips and eyebrows were full and strong. He looked like an angel.

Goku’s eyes caught on his lips. God, they looked so soft. He just wanted to reach out and-

Vegeta cut off his thoughts with a kiss, tenderly pressing their mouths together. He seemed shy, almost hesitant. He shook his head and pulled back, “U-uh, sorry…”

Goku stared with wide eyes as Vegeta left and slouched into himself. He shook his own head, “No. Come back,”

He reached his hand out, pulling Vegeta’s opposite shoulder toward him so they faced each other again. Vegeta looked up shyly, almost looking scared with eyes so wide. Goku’s hand trailed up from his shoulder to the side of his neck and halfway through his hair.

He searched Vegeta’s face again for any sort of hint that he might not want this and shook his head, “Can you do that again?”

Vegeta opened his mouth just a bit, like he was going to say something and stopped himself. He bit his lip nervously.

“Please?”

They met eyes again, staring for just a second before pulling each other in by the face and kissing again. Goku sighed into Vegeta’s mouth, melting at the touch. Vegeta scooted himself in closer, wrapping his arms fully around Goku’s neck and pulling him down on top of him. 

A few pecks later, Goku looked down at a now red faced Vegeta, smile so wide it crinkled the corners of his eyes, “You’re beautiful, Vegeta.”

Vegeta shook his head, pulling Goku down on him again and kissing him hard. He shyly swiped the tip of his tongue between their lips, and Goku met him a split second later, gently sucking Vegeta’s tongue into his mouth. The action made Vegeta moan a bit, causing Goku to pull away again, out of breath. It had been so long since he kissed anyone like this, and to hear Vegeta _moan_ like that was just a bit too much. But he wanted more. 

He held Vegeta by the face again, with both hands. His eyes were closed but Goku knew that he was listening. He sighed, leaning down to press their foreheads together.

“‘Geta. Tell me what Ah gotta do to make ya do that again.”

Vegeta wiggled around beneath him, leaning up to kiss Goku again without answering his question. They sighed at each other, running hands wherever they could reach. They shared tongues again and bit at lips, gently tugging hair and arcing into each other.

Vegeta was the next to break away, needing to breathe. He pulled Goku down into a hug, but Goku kept kissing, gently biting at his neck and not letting Vegeta actually catch his breath. He panted and tried to hold back needy moans but failed horribly. He tried to push Goku off of him, but got distracted by the hardness in his shoulders and how rough and corded he was.

Without warning, Goku stood and scooped Vegeta up off the futon, carting him over bridal style to his bed. He laid down with Vegeta straddling him, and pulled him down so their chests were flush. 

Vegeta was breathing hard, looking down at Goku with a bright red face. Goku smiled up at him, leaning his head back to relax on the pillows.

He chuckled, staring at the ceiling, “That was quick,” Vegeta rested his head down on Goku’s chest, getting familiar with the sound of his heart thundering, though they hadn’t done anything too strenuous. He nodded, still catching his breath.

Goku’s large hands found their way to Vegeta’s back, rubbing up and down soothingly, “No one’s ever made me feel like you do, ‘Geta… Ah really like you a lot. Ah’m glad ya let me be yer boyfriend.”

Vegeta rubbed his face into the soft fabric of Goku’s shirt, kind of smelling him again, “Why wouldn’t I want to be? You charmed me almost immediately, you know.”

Goku laughed, his hands coming to a stop at the small of Vegeta’s back, “Ah dunno. Ah’m dumb ‘n loud ‘n Ah beat people up.”

Vegeta looked up at him, “I love all those things, dummy. You broke a guys nose for me.”

He laughed again, sitting up with Vegeta wrapping his legs around his waist and resting on his lap, “Ah don’ think Ah broke his nose, actually. Just got lucky, Ah guess.”

Vegeta laid his head down on Goku’s shoulder, gently running his lips up and down his neck, “Who’s lucky?”

Goku wrapped his arms around Vegeta, pulling him in even closer, “All of us.”

Vegeta’s eye caught a small analog clock sitting on Goku’s desk, “It’s 8:15.”

“Wanna go to bed? Ah gotta wake up real early anyway.”

Vegeta nodded, falling down with Goku as he plopped back down onto the pillows, “Yeah.”

They laid there, silent for a moment. Goku ran his fingers through Vegeta’s hair, “Ya wanna sleep up here?”

“...Yeah.”

With a contented, low sigh, Goku shuffled the covers out from underneath him and covered them up with it, immediately settling down to get comfortable. Vegeta fell to his right side, nestling in under his arm and putting his hand on Goku’s chest.

He fingered the buttons of Goku’s flannel, “You don’t wanna get rid of this? It can’t be comfortable.”

Goku hesitated for a minute, “Ya don’t mind? We can both change if ya wanna.”

After a second, Vegeta nodded and slid out of bed, going over to his bag and pulling out some cotton pajama pants. He stripped himself of his shirt and jeans, and debated for a moment before deciding to go commando as well.

He pulled on the pants and turned to see Goku doing the same thing. They smiled at each other and got back into bed. Goku turned the lamp off.

A few minutes after saying goodnight, Vegeta was sure Goku was asleep, and was about to be himself when Goku whispered, “Ya got a nice butt.”

Vegeta couldn’t help but laugh, trying to keep himself quiet with a hand in front of his mouth.

“Thank you, I guess,” he giggled.

Goku laughed with him, “Night, ‘Geta.”

Vegeta settled in again, running his hand along Goku’s fuzzy chest, “Night, ‘Ku.”


	6. Saturday, October 21st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things finally start to get steamy in this chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still in the process of writing this thing, so the updates will be a bit slower for the last two chapters. I'll do my best to get them out ASAP, but this chapter is a bit longer and has some steamy lemon/lime, so it should make up for it.

Goku woke up at 4, gently slipping out of bed as to not wake Vegeta up. He watched the smaller one sleep as he changed into his normal clothes. His chest filled with a strange warmth and he couldn’t stop the smile that split his face.

He made his way downstairs, checking the list Roshi had left for him on the fridge again before quietly heading outside. 

He spent the next two hours cleaning all eight horse stalls, shoveling the bedding out and hosing down the floors. The stalls were normally fully cleaned out once a week, but Goku hadn’t been around last weekend, so it was critical that everything was cleaned top to bottom.

While he waited on the floors to dry up, he went to bottle feed the foals their breakfast, smiling down at them as they huffed in contentment. 

The six grown horses were let out the back door of the barn, out into the pasture. The grass had frost on it still, the mornings were getting chillier and soon they would have to be wearing their blankets if they were let out to roam for a while. 

The horses were always bought and named in pairs. That’s the way Roshi has done it, as long as Goku could remember. The new foals weren’t named yet, and Roshi had left that honor to Goku, who had been brainstorming names for a few weeks.

He just couldn’t, for the life of him, come up with anything notable. He wanted the names to be cool, just like the rest of the horses, who had names of musicians and Greek gods, but he was coming up short. 

He tried coming up with names based on their coat color, but that was always hard, especially ‘cause all the names were unoriginal and boring. So Goku began to pay attention to the foals personalities. It was hard, because they were just so young that they had yet to really do much of anything with the adults, which was where Goku expected them to mature the fastest. The babes only seemed interested in each others company, allowing Goku in when he was offering food or a fresh cleaning.

After the stalls were dry, Goku went upstairs for a few bales of hay. Each weighed about a hundred and twenty pounds, but Goku lifted them with relative ease and tossed them out the top story door to the ground out front. One bale always managed, but with the addition of the foals, Goku had gotten into the habit of bringing down two. The banging around made a few of the chickens stir, but none of them ever fully woke. They were usually greedy with sleep this time of year, because they would stop laying eggs soon.

He went back downstairs and split the hay up between the eight stalls, only filling the food buckets of the adults and lining the foals stalls with the bedding. In storage sat the adults bedding, piles of bags, full of sweet smelling pine shavings. Goku brought out two bags for each of the horses, tearing open the plastic with his bare hands and emptying it out onto the stall floors. The job was done in only a few minutes, but the animals liked to stay out a bit longer in the morning. They seemed to enjoy the fresh air. Goku just left their gates open, closing the front door of the barn. They would come in and relax when they wanted to.

Cleaning the stalls always took a lot out of him, so he did it first. Next was to clean their shoes out, make sure nothing like dirt, bedding, or manure had been stuck in there. He would have to be extra sure to really clean them up if Vegeta was gonna be riding any of them. 

He led the foals outside with the adults, who had, of course, spread themselves out as far as possible, taking up an acre a piece. Goku sighed. They always did this, making his job all that much more difficult. 

It was only six in the morning, so the sun wouldn’t be fully up for another hour, but it was bright enough outside for Goku to see relatively well. He made his way to Arabella, the closest adult around. She was always calm and humble, and she seemed to be motherly toward the babies, so that was good. It was important for at least one of the horses to be protective of them, especially if any of the males decided to get aggressive while no one was around. Usually, they were each kept separate in the barn, but out grazing, it was risky. Goku definitely couldn’t run as fast as a horse, so if Arabella could hold off the others in time for him to get there and calm them down, that was ideal.

Goku took his hoof pick from around his wrist and came up on Ara’s left side, making his presence clearly known. Although she was sweet, Arabella could be skittish at times, and being almost 16 hands high and easily 550 pounds, Goku definitely didn’t want her trampling him or the babies. 

He patted her neck, smoothing her mane gently. He trailed his hand down her shoulder to lift her hoof up to pick away at the waste build up. It only took him a few minutes to do all four, and he looped the pick back around his wrist. He vaguely wondered if Vegeta was up yet, or if he was dreaming. He wondered if he would like Ara, and if she would like Vegeta.

Ara reminded Goku of him in a way. She was grey, with dark, kind eyes and a thick heart width. If she wasn’t as tall as she was she would be almost stocky. And while Vegeta was more lithe than bulky, there was a sort of familiarity in the way Ara held herself.

Goku shook his head and walked away from her, knowing that he was just associating the two together because he loved Vegeta and Arabella was his favorite.

He went on to Lennon and repeated the process. Lennon was a bit shorter than Ara, but he was strong and thick. He was the horse Roshi usually used for carting, if he needed a hand. In short, he was boring. His coat was a plain russet color, with black ears and a white stripe down the center of his face. He was definitely handsome, but he was no show horse.

He attempted to call the other horses over, just not too keen on the thought of walking ten acres of land when the animals should just come right to him anyway. Their gait was longer, they should be doing most of the work.

At his call, three of the remaining four horses came to him, all watching him with curiosity as he went and cleaned their hooves.

Anita, McCartney, and Aphrodite were the ones that obeyed Goku’s call, patiently waiting to be cleaned just like their stablemates.

Adonis, the one that insisted on making Goku’s job a living hell, kept his place in the back corner of the pasture, lazily grazing along. Goku genuinely thought that Adonis was the prettiest horse out of all of them, sporting a pristine palomino coat. And he was by far the best ridden, only narrowly outdoing his counterpart, Aphrodite. Both were show horses, and were well trained and used to humans, but that didn’t bar them from being impudent when they so desired.

Adonis huffed at Goku as he closed in on him, finally deciding to not be a dick and trot over to him. Goku made quick work of cleaning his hooves, and decided that he was in desperate need of a shower. It was only 6:30, but he already felt like going back to bed. Maybe if Vegeta wasn’t up yet he could get away with it. 

He mounted Adonis bare and clicked, urging him forward. If the bastard was gonna make him go all the way over, he was gonna take him back.

As if they followed an unspoken command, all eight horses made their way into the barn. The foals still needed some pointers on which stall to go to, but they were learning quickly as the weeks went on.

Goku decided that he would clean their coats later, maybe after he had taken Vegeta out riding. With a huff, he locked up the horse gates and the front entrance, and made his way back inside. It was a relief to get his boots off and walk on something solid, instead of fluffy bedding or slippery grass. 

He found Vegeta sitting at the table, a steaming mug in his hand, “I made coffee, want some?”

Goku shook his head, “Not yet, Ah need ta… Ah don’ even know. Ah just need to sit.”

Vegeta stood, coming close enough to Goku that he knew not to touch him.

Goku laughed a bit, “Ah’d love to hug ya, but Ah’m kinda covered in horse shit. Ah’ma shower quick, I’ll be out soon.” He walked off, hands held behind his head as he made his way through the living room and to the bathroom at the base of the stairs. Vegeta watched him the whole way, and when he disappeared behind the door, Vegeta went back to sit and enjoy his coffee.

Waking up early was an easy habit to break, and while Vegeta had the best sleep of his life last night, he had to practice self-discipline and keep his routine steady. 

It really was just a few minutes before Goku left the bathroom. He smelled fresh, not at all like horse manure, thank God. 

He gave Vegeta a quick kiss on the cheek on his way to the coffee pot, ruffling his hair a bit as he walked away. He poured himself a cup, dumping a shit ton of sugar in it before sitting at the opposite end of the table.

The two stared between themselves and their coffee for a few minutes, content with just existing near each other.

Behind Goku, Vegeta spotted a lumpy gray mass lumber out from the hallway. A fat, groggy cat spread itself out onto the middle of the kitchen floor, not a single care for whether or not he may be in someone’s way.

“Uh, where did that come from?” Vegeta pointed to the cat, who, at hearing a noise, turned his head and glared at Vegeta.

Goku laughed into his coffee, “That’s Kiyoshi. He usually just hangs out in Roshi’s room, but it looks like ya lured him out, huh?”

Vegeta shook his head. That cat was the ugliest thing he’s ever seen. He didn’t even have the charm of a hairless cat. He was just plain ugly. 

Vegeta made a noise that was a mix of acknowledgment and disgust and shipped on his nearly empty coffee. As Goku watched him, he was struck with an idea.

“‘Geta. Wanna name a horse?”

“What?” Vegeta set his cup down, tearing his gaze away from the trainwreck of an animal on the floor.

“Roshi’s got two new foals ‘n they don’t got names yet. Ah thoughtcha might wanna have the honors.”

Vegeta thought for a minute, staring into the swirling sparkliness of his caramel colored coffee, “Isn’t naming a horse like… A really big deal? Are you sure you wanna leave that up to me?”

Goku laughed, “You’d be better at namin’ ‘em than Ah ever would. Namin’ things is hard.”

Vegeta shook his head with a smile, “I’ll think about it.”

“Ya wanna go meet ‘em? They just got out so they’re all happy.” Goku took Vegeta’s mug and set it in the sink.

Vegeta nodded silently and slipped his sneakers on, waiting for Goku to catch up before opening the door.

Kiyoshi decided that being outside was far more exciting than not, and moved fast from the middle of the floor to the threshold, shoving past Vegeta just to run through the wires lining the pasture. 

Ignoring him, Goku led Vegeta to the front of the barn and opened it right up, swinging the tall panel to the side to reveal all the horses in their separate stalls. They went to the shorter ones in the back, that held the babes.

Unlatching the gate to the stall on the right, Goku let Vegeta in first, crouching down to the buckskin foal.

“Hey, lil fella,” Goku greeted him, gently rubbing his muzzle, “Ah fed ‘im not too long ago but only one bottle. He should be ready for more by now,”

Goku stood, scooping some milk replacer into an empty bottle and rehydrating it from a spicket in the wall. Pressing his thumb on the nipple and shaking it, he made his way back over to Vegeta.

He handed the bottle over, crouching back into the stall and holding the foal gently by the crest, “He’ll take it as soon as ya put it near his mouth.”

Vegeta nodded, admiring how at ease Goku seemed with such a fragile looking animal. He lowered the bottle to the foals mouth, and he all but jumped forward to capture it.

He suckled as if he hadn’t been fed in ages.

Vegeta looked up to Goku, “How did Roshi get them?”

A sad serene look came over Goku’s face, and he looked down to the nursing foal with open affection, “There was a breeding mare dropped off randomly here a few months ago. She was pregnant and apparently someone thought it was a good idea to abandon her,” he sighed, “She was a sweetie, she was. Nicest horse Ah ever cared for.”

They sat fully on the freshly cleaned bedding, watching the young one drink. Vegeta cleared his throat, “And?”

Goku rested his cheek in his palm, closing his eyes, “She ended up having twins. But it’s rare that it goes without one of them dying. It just happened to be her,” he shook his head, clenching his eyes hard, “Ah knew she wasn’t gonna make it… But I had to help her give birth. Ah felt terrible, just watching her suffer and not being able to help.”

Vegeta looked back to the orphaned foal. The bottle was nearly empty. He pulled the nipple from his mouth and patted him on the head, “He’s a pretty one.”

Goku smiled, eyes still closed, “Ah know. They’re both such sweeties. Just like their Mama.”

They made their way to the other foal, who looked the exact same except for a thin stripe of white riding down the middle of his muzzle. Goku fed him while he let Vegeta hold him for comfort. 

As they made their way out of the second stall, Vegeta peeked in at all the other horses, “They’re so big.”

Goku laughed, “Yeah, that’s kinda how horses are, hun. Wanna pick one to ride?”

Vegeta shook his head, leaning back down to read the nameplate mounted on the gate, “Adonis?”

Goku laughed again, louder this time, “He’s a straight pisspot. He ain’t gonna want ya.”

Adonis pressed his nose against the bars sniffing at Vegeta’s hand, “I don’t know ‘Ku. He seems to like me.” The horse huffed and sniffed at him again, trying his best to push his wide nose past the bars of his stall and into Vegeta’s hand. Goku sighed. Of course Adonis would like Vegeta. 

“Alright, then I’ll take Aphro. Let’s go.”

Goku set him up with everything he needed. With a final buckle of the saddle, he held his hand out for Vegeta to brace himself on as he swung his legs over the back of the horse. Goku mounted Aphrodite and led the two horses out to the pasture. There wasn’t much point in keeping Adonis inside for riding because he was so experienced, but Vegeta didn’t need to know that that was where they were supposed to begin.

Goku clicked quietly and Aphrodite sped up just a tad. Goku lined himself up to look at Adonis in the eyes, silently threatening him to keep Vegeta safe. 

Vegeta seemed to be a natural but that may have been just because of his seasoned horse. Soon, he was zooming about the pasture, turning smoothly and learning the commands. Goku was impressed. 

Adonis seemed to really like Vegeta, for some reason. That fact alone made Goku feel a sort of camaraderie with him. He was a dick, for sure, but Adonis knew that Vegeta was inexperienced, so he was gentle with him. He went exactly as fast as Vegeta wanted, listened to his commands. 

After a solid hour of Vegeta playing around, he decided that riding was really hurting his ass. He told Goku so, who laughed a bit, “Yeah that happens. Wanna call it a day? The shipment should be here soon.”

“Shipment?” Vegeta dropped off the saddle, flawlessly breaking his fall. Goku nodded, “There’s about two tons of hay coming in around ten. Ah gotta move all of it upstairs when it gets here.”

Vegeta unbuckled Adonis’ saddle and hung it, “I could help you.”

Goku chuckled, pulling Vegeta in by the wrist to hug him close, “The shits heavy, hun. Ah do this all the time, Ah can handle it.”

After tidying up, they went back inside. Much to Vegeta’s relief, Kiyoshi was nowhere to be seen. He was probably still outside. 

With the limited stock of food they had, Goku made eggs and pancakes for breakfast. It surprised Vegeta more and more throughout the day, how capable Goku was. He was a complete idiot when it came to book smarts, but by all the gods did he have a knack for dealing with animals. He seemed to be a good cook, as well.

They ate in comfortable silence. It was already 9:30, so Goku ate quickly, kissing Vegeta on the head as he passed him to go upstairs. 

He came back down a few minutes later in a black wife beater, changed entirely out of his flannel. As he did the dishes, Vegeta watched him from the table. His chest felt tight, for some reason. Despite his rough exterior, Goku was probably the sweetest person he’d ever met, American of otherwise. His shyness was charming, and maybe even a little sexy.

His body sure was sexy. It was clear that he’d been working here for most of his life. It rewarded him with thick muscles that had to be hell to attain any other way. 

Goku was the opposite of graceful, though, but Vegeta didn’t mind it in the slightest. He was clumsy and he spoke strangely, but it was cute. And the way Vegeta caught him staring sometimes was just plain precious. It was obvious that he really, _really_ liked Vegeta, and though they had hardly known each other a week, it didn’t feel like new love to him. Vegeta felt like home to him, like he had always been missing something until Monday morning. 

Vegeta made him happy. When there wasn’t drama with Zarbon or the onlooking eyes of their judgemental classmates, they were at ease with each other. That was just proven to them further when they effortlessly shared their first kiss. Normally, something like that would have Goku shaking with nerves, but Vegeta gave him such a strange calmness that nothing but the two of them mattered. There were no nerves because there didn’t need to be. Vegeta would still like him afterward, there was nothing to be afraid of. 

Finishing the dishes, Goku turned back around and leaned against the counter, gazing across the kitchen at Vegeta. He looked wistful, like he was deep in thought about something.

“You alright?”

Vegeta shook his head quick, coming back to his senses, “Uh, yeah. I was distracted.”

He smiled innocently, cocking his head, “What ya thinkin’ about?”

“U-Uh, nothing,” Vegeta stuttered, face turning red.

Goku cocked an eyebrow, “Ya sure? Ya look real cute blushin’ like that.” He smiled over at Vegeta, staring lovingly at him.

“I-I’m not blushing. It’s just hot in here…”

Goku crossed his arms, “I don’t think it’s hot in here. I’m actually a little chilly.”

Vegeta opened and closed his mouth like a fish, searching for an excuse, “Uh…”

Goku pushed himself away from the counter, attempting to saunter over to Vegeta, but just looking like he was in a lot of pain. Vegeta found it cute, and couldn’t help but smile a little, despite his being embarrassed. 

“Wanna warm me up?” Goku took Vegeta’s hand from where it sat on the table into his own and lifted it up to his mouth giving it a gentle kiss. Vegeta was torn between laughing his ass off and falling out of his seat. He just stared at Goku as he was lifted from his chair and a warm, strong arm wrapped around his waist.

Not being able to think about anything else, Vegeta brought his other arm up to wrap around Goku’s shoulders. He pulled them closer together, relishing in the sensation of them being this close. Goku spun them around a bit, still holding onto Vegeta’s hand. Vegeta heard him chuckle, but he wasn’t sure why until he was suddenly lifted from the ground and placed on the counter. He pulled his face from Goku’s chest to look up at him. It annoyed him in a way that Goku was still taller, even when he was up so high, but another part of him found it incredibly hot.

Goku’s hand left a trail of goosebumps on his arm as he oh so gently brought it up to Vegeta’s face. His thumb smoothed over Vegeta’s plump cheek as he looked down at him. He really thought with everything that he was that Vegeta was gorgeous. He slowly leaned down to press their lips together. 

Both of them were still shy, even after all the kissing last night. Both of Vegeta’s arms found their way around Goku’s neck, pulling him down further to deepen their innocent kiss.

Goku pulled Vegeta closer by the waist and stationed himself between his legs. Their chests were flush and they touched everywhere they could while still keeping their mouths chaste. Goku’s hands ran feverishly up and down Vegeta’s back, feeling his lithe form and pressing his fingers into his flesh to make white craters. 

But Vegeta moaned again, throwing Goku into a heated frenzy. His hands moved quicker and grabbed harder. He pulled Vegeta all the way to the edge of the counter to the point that he was almost falling off. The rough handling made Vegeta moan even more, and the kiss deepened, gentle tongues wiggling their way into foreign mouths and tasting each other.

Goku was moaning himself at that point, his jeans becoming uncomfortably tight at the thought of going further than just kissing and touching. The sensation startled him, but Vegeta noticed before he had a chance to pull away.

Vegeta wrapped his legs around Goku’s wide hips, pulling him in closer so they brushed together ever so slightly. The contact made Goku’s breath feather weakly, and he slouched a bit, losing stability in his knees. The kiss turned sloppy and desperate as the contact only grew more intense.

With a frustrated grunt, Goku tore himself away. Vegeta was smug and also embarrassed to see his face bright red and a very prominent bulge down the left leg of his jeans.

“S-sorry… Ah couldn’t keep maself away from ya...” He shyly pushed down his boner, only becoming redder. Vegeta laughed, grabbing him by the wrist.

He pulled Goku back in between his knees, yanking him down so his mouth just barely pressed against his ear, “Don’t apologize, ‘Ku. I don’t want you to stay away.”

Goku audibly swallowed and licked his lips, unable to gather the will to pull himself away again.

Just as he was leaning in to capture Vegeta’s lips again, the blaring sound of a truck backing up beeped outside. The boys jumped, not expecting it.

Goku growled to himself, glancing at the clock, “They’re early,”

Vegeta ran his hands down to Goku’s waist, silently begging him to stay. He shook his head, pulling away after a final quick kiss, “This won’t take long. Ah’ll make it up to you later, Ah promise.”

Vegeta nodded and watched as Goku slipped on his boots and went outside. He sighed and hopped off the counter. Watching out of the living room window, Vegeta saw the delivery truck pull away, leaving Goku with a big pile of hay bales. Shaking his head, Vegeta walked away from the window. He knew those things weighed as much as he did. He was stupid for ever thinking that he would be able to help. 

He supposed that he would just have to wait for Goku to be done. With a sigh, he made his way to the stairs, pushing up through the floor of their now shared bedroom. 

Still comfortable in his pajamas, Vegeta decided not to change just yet, after eyeing his bag that sat on the floor. 

Strangely, he felt as if Goku’s fingers were still on his waist, pressing down into his skin. He ventured into the bathroom again, much like he did as soon as he woke up, but in the blurry state of sleepiness, he failed to see something.

As he inspected the marks on his bare back, he spotted something in the reflection of the mirror. Shifting his focus over to the object, he flushed deeply at the recognition of a bright pink vibrator. 

Suddenly forgetting how to breathe, Vegeta whirled around, staring wide-eyed at the device. For the life of him, he thought that Goku was an innocent boy, shy at the least. The last thing he expected was to find a sex toy in the shower.

The mental image of Goku using a vibrator in the shower stole his breath even more, and he sat on the edge of the tub, still staring.

With trembling, nervous fingers, Vegeta leaned over and plucked the toy from where it sat.

He felt how hot his face was becoming. Turning the thing over in his hands, he inspected it, for a reason unknown to him. He just found himself emblazoned with curiosity.

It was definitely a typical vibrator, smooth, with a bulbous end and button controls for intensity.

His eyebrow twitched as he noticed that the button that should say ‘5’, said nothing, clearly from fingers wearing down on it. Vegeta _really_ couldn't help his thoughts; maybe Goku wasn't as innocent as he seemed. It was clear that in his ‘personal time’ he was a different Goku.

Still curious, Vegeta slid a still shaking thumb over the buttons, landing on the ‘5’. He bit his lip. Was he really about to do such a shameful thing? Pressing that button meant that he would know how much intensity Goku fucked himself with. He shook his head at the thought of Goku masturbating again and pressed the little button.

The toy immediately jumped to life, rumbling violently. It was so loud and so intense that it startled Vegeta, and out of shock he dropped the thing to the floor.

Still buzzing, the vibrator rattled and skittered across the tiles, leaving arms reach quickly. 

Panicked, Vegeta fell from the edge of the tub to his knees, reaching out to grasp the toy before it got too far away. 

Missing, he crawled after it. When he finally wrapped his hand around it, he immediately turned it off. 

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Vegeta sat back on his haunches. That was intense. And Goku liked that in his ass. 

Vegeta was unsure of what to do. It felt stifling in the bathroom suddenly, and he set the toy down back where it belonged and left the room in haste.

Sitting on Goku's bed, he couldn't help but imagine how many times he may have masturbated in that very spot. 

He couldn't will the redness from his face. He needed fresh air, quickly. Standing up proved difficult. The hardness in his pajamas wasn't constricted in the slightest, but the soft fabric did nothing to hide his shame. That, and with his lack of boxers, the shifting of the pajamas ran over his sensitive arousal, making his breath hitch. 

He flexed his jaw, willing the erection to go away. But the image of Goku plagued his mind.

He imagined how much pleasure he must get from that little toy. Imagined how he must writhe with painful joy with that thing in his ass. He must enjoy it a great deal if he had used it enough to wear down the text on the button. How often did he masturbate? Did he also jack himself off at the same time? Or did he deny his cock of any stimulation, just for the thrill of a denied orgasm?

Vegeta shook his head wildly around. He had to get rid of this boner somehow. 

He glanced back to Goku’s bed. Would it be rude to do that? He was certain Goku wouldn’t mind, but it was the principle of it that rubbed Vegeta the wrong way.

Abandoning logic, Vegeta quickly shucked himself of his pajamas, landing back onto the still messy sheets. The whole thing reeked deliciously of Goku, like his scent had attached itself to the mattress by the claws and refused to let go. 

Rolling around in things that smelled of Goku didn’t help his erection one bit. If anything, he was leaking profusely over it.

Rubbing one out didn’t take him long. He had been frustrated all week, sexually and otherwise because of Goku. He took advantage of finally being able to let the tension go.

Now left satisfied, Vegeta figured that he should get dressed and go outside like he had wanted to ten minutes ago.

He pulled on some jeans, deciding to skip out on a shirt. It wasn’t too horribly cold outside earlier without one, and now that the sun had actually risen it was probably even warmer. He went downstairs and checked out the window one more time. Goku was nowhere to be seen, but that pile of hay was more than half gone already. He sure did work fast. 

He slipped on his sneakers and went outside, running into Kiyoshi, who seemed to be in a much better mood, though he was still ugly as shit.

Just as Vegeta stepped around the corner, Goku emerged from the barn. Vegeta froze, watching on. Goku hadn’t noticed him, but oh boy.

At some point, he had taken his shirt off, clearly because he was soaked with sweat. His skin glistened brightly, leaving Vegeta with a dry feeling in his mouth. After working for what had already been nearly an hour, his muscles were surging and swollen from use. He looked even sexier than he did normally. Vegeta wanted so badly to go jump him, but he wasn’t about to stop the show he got to see.

Knowing that those bales weighed just as much as him was now a massive turn on. Goku tossed them around like it was nothing when normally they would need to be handled by two people. He hauled those fuckers upstairs with so much determination… Vegeta wondered if Goku would be willing to throw him about like that.

Shaking the dirty thought from his mind, he came back from behind the corner, revealing himself. He caught Goku’s eye, who immediately turned to him, a bright smile replacing what was a furrowed brow and a scowl just seconds before.

“Hey, ‘Geta!”

Vegeta stayed quiet. His tongue wouldn’t unstick from the roof of his mouth, and even if it could, he wasn’t sure what he would say anyway. 

“You alright? You look a bit red…”

Vegeta kept staring. Goku, in all his sweaty, pumped up glory, was a man that liked a violently shaking vibrator in the ass. Vegeta was certain he would never get over it. He was also sure that he would never tell Goku that he had seen it. The boy had been embarrassed enough in the past week.

But God, he looked delicious. Vegeta had to clench his fists at his sides to keep from running into him and sucking his skin clean.

Vegeta had absolutely no idea where all these thoughts were coming from all of a sudden. Sure, he had thought Goku was attractive at the least, but now that he had discovered something incredibly personal, he was even more alluring. He knew that there was more than meets the eye with him. He was mysterious, and Vegeta liked that. 

To Goku, though, Vegeta looked like a mess. His face was red, hair messed up weird in places. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, for some reason. And he seemed incredibly tense.

“‘Geta?”

“When will you be finished?”

The sudden question shocked Goku. He turned his head to the pile of hay, “Ah dunno, ‘bout half an hour?”

Vegeta bit his lip. He wasn’t sure if he could be able to keep his hands off Goku for another 30 minutes, “Could you hurry up?”

Goku cocked his head, truly concerned, “What’s wrong, hun?” He walked forward, but Vegeta backed up step for step. He really was acting weird.

“I need you.”

“Huh?” Goku asked dumbly.

Vegeta looked away, face reddening further, “I need you. That episode in the kitchen earlier has me bothered and now I’m frustrated,” He almost shouted into his chest, “I need you to finish up so we can continue.”

Goku’s face blushed, that wasn’t what he was expecting, “O-oh, alright, sure thing, ‘Geta.” He went to walk toward Vegeta again, but he still backed away. Vegeta lowered his voice, looking through his eyelashes, “If you so much as touch me right now you’ll never get your work done.”

Goku blinked. This side of Vegeta was new. And really, really hot. Goku watched as Vegeta struggled to make himself turn around and head back inside. 

Shaking his head, Goku decided that he didn’t care if he pulled a muscle or two, and began hauling the hay upstairs two at a time. He was determined to not leave Vegeta waiting. 

The job still took him twenty minutes, but all of his work for the weekend was finished. He could go home already if he wanted to.

Coming inside, he hurriedly kicked off his boots and scooped Vegeta up from the chair he was sitting in at the kitchen table. 

Vegeta yelped, but he ignored it, marching him into the living room and tossing him from over his shoulder into the recliner. 

The sudden roughness had Vegeta all shades of flustered, and the fact that he had gotten off not long before seemed to not matter at all as his jeans grew tighter at his being manhandled.

Goku was immediately on him, sucking on his lips and nipping at his ear, groaning purely from want. Things had definitely escalated quickly since last night, but neither of the boys seemed to care even a little bit. 

Vegeta’s lack of shirt was the most convenient thing for Goku to simply trail kisses all down Vegeta’s neck, leaving tiny, harmless love bites.

He gently flicked a nipple with his tongue while teasing the other between his calloused fingers. Vegeta was already a quivering mess beneath his hands, he couldn’t wait to really get his mouth on him. 

As he kept playing with Vegeta’s chest, Goku made quick work of unbuttoning his pants, yanking them down to mid-thigh, but leaving his boxers alone. 

Vegeta was already moaning aloud. Nothing could’ve prepared him for such a thing. The sounds drove Goku on more as he wrapped his long, sweaty arms all the way around Vegeta’s waist and kissed down his front. 

Vegeta panted, pushing Goku away hard, “W-wait!”

Goku shook his head, taking a breath, “Sorry hun. Ah went too fast, huh?”

He advanced on him again, being sure to handle Vegeta gently. He kissed him so light that Vegeta could barely feel it. The tickling only made him more frustrated. 

He knew Goku could see the hugely obvious tent in his boxers, and it frustrated him to no end that he was ignoring it. He wiggled his hips around desperately, trying to make Goku go further. 

Getting the hint, Goku took his boxers away down to the thigh, taking a second to admire Vegeta’s hard length. 

Vegeta was about to complain again, but his words were cut off by Goku immediately swallowing him whole. 

He bit off a moan, hands instantly going to Goku’s head to urge him on. 

Goku chuckled, completely ignoring Vegeta as he went on with bobbing his head. Goku always liked giving blowjobs, and he knew he was great at it, so he didn’t worry about Vegeta enjoying himself.

Vegeta was enjoying himself, intensely, in fact. He was still incredibly sensitive from his earlier pleasuring, and the fact that he had been ogling Goku earlier just to get more frustrated, his head was spinning.

Any shred of doubt that Vegeta had that Goku was a complete deviant was completely obliterated the moment he sucked one of Vegeta’s balls in his mouth along with his full shaft.

Frustratingly enough, Vegeta, for the life of him, knew that he would take forever to climax again. But he couldn’t exactly tell Goku what he wanted, since all of his breath was being poured into crying out in pleasure. 

He had no idea that Goku was capable of such amazingly vile things. But he thanked all the gods that he was, he was happy he wouldn’t have missed out on this. 

Even after a several minutes of sucking, Vegeta was nowhere close to another orgasm. But Goku kept going with the same vigor as when he first started. Vegeta cooed his approval, running his fingers through Gokus hair.

With a pop, Goku pulled away, breathing hard. He kissed the base of Vegeta’s cock, trying to catch his breath a bit. He looked up at Vegeta through his eyelashes, the expression alone shaking Vegeta to the core. 

“Ya jacked off earlier, huh?”

Vegeta bit his lip, “What?”

Goku chuckled, nipping at the base again, “Ah can taste it. Ya already came today.”

“S-sorry,” Vegeta was also panting, “I couldn’t help it.”

“Ah don’ mind,” He bobbed over him once, “Gives me an excuse to keep goin’,”

Vegeta couldn’t bring himself to respond. He just bit his lip and whined.

“Ya need more, don’cha?”

Vegeta could only nod. He just wanted Goku to get on with it, the lack of contact was driving him crazy.

With a wide smile, Goku sucked on his index finger, coating it with saliva. Vegeta was grateful that he didn’t have to say it out loud. He would usually be shy, but he felt too good to care. 

Just as Goku descended on him again he gently pressed his finger against Vegeta’s puckered entrance. Vegeta leaned back a bit to give him more room, the gesture made Goku chuckle, and it gave Vegeta more pleasure. 

Pressing through the muscle, Goku pushed in all the way to his prostate, gently curving a finger around it and massaging it firmly.

Vegeta’s legs began to shake, and that warm pool in his belly finally started to show itself at the second sensation. His fingers gnarled into Goku’s hair, pulling hard. Goku let him force his head up and down, he effortlessly opened his throat for Vegeta to slide in and out of it, taking every single inch and writhing his tongue around.

That, paired with the forceful finger around his sweet spot; Vegeta couldn’t even hope of keeping his noises to himself. His teeth left his lips, mouth open wide.

“Kuuu! God, don’t stop!”

At his pleading, Goku only moved faster, pressing his prostate harder and sucking so hard that Vegeta couldn’t make noise anymore. He just held his breath and looked down at Goku passionately sucking him off, mind swimming. 

The tension in his hips grew as the pleasure forced his muscles to twitch and contract, out of instinct he pushed Goku’s head away, it was too much.

But Goku used his free hand to grab at Vegeta’s wrists, pulling them away so he wasn’t pushing him off his cock. Vegeta cried out again, legs fully thrashing about.

Goku knew that Vegeta was about to lose it, so pushed a second finger inside his partner, massaging his prostate with near-bruising force and fully deepthroated him, sucking his balls into his mouth as well.

Vegeta’s orgasm was nearly painful as he shot his come down Goku’s throat, who sucked it all down greedily. He gently kept sucking as he withdrew his fingers.

He sat back on his haunches, looking up at Vegeta for a sign of approval. His eyes were closed, chest heaving.

“Where… Did you learn… How to suck dick like that?” Vegeta panted between his words. 

Goku shrugged, suddenly bashful, “Ah’ve been with a few people…”

Vegeta leaned back, resting his head fully back against the chair, “Damn.”

“You alright?” Goku laughed a bit.

Vegeta nodded, “More than.”

Goku rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at the entertainment center. He laughed awkwardly, “Wanna watch a movie or something?”

Vegeta nodded again, holding his arms out. Goku chuckled, standing and scooping him into his arms after helping him pull his jeans back up.

He carried him over to the couch, laying him down between his legs. 

Before he even had the chance to put a movie on, Vegeta was asleep, taken by the fatigue of two orgasms. 

Goku smiled to himself, running his fingers through Vegeta’s hair. He was tired as well, cleaning the barn and moving hay, topped with giving an intense blowjob, he could definitely stand a nap.

 

They woke up just in time to make dinner, but Goku genuinely didn’t feel like cooking, so he ordered pizza for the two of them, much to Vegeta’s excitement. 

Once they had a box of pizza, they finally put on a movie and ate, relaxing on the couch. They laughed a lot at the movie, and ate every last bit of the pizza. 

Because they had napped for a few hours, they weren’t ready to go to bed at a normal hour. 

By the time 9:30 rolled about, they had watched three movies and were grossly full, but still full of enough energy to be up for a few more hours.

They spent the time talking about themselves again, Vegeta told Goku about his family, how his mother had passed away when he was young, and how jealous he was of his relationship with his sister. His father was a great man, always supportive of him and Tarble, especially after the loss of their mother.

Goku did his best to comfort Vegeta, he told him that building a friendship with your siblings would take some time, but that it was worth it. 

They laid down again after a few hours of bantering, falling asleep on the couch together.


	7. Sunday, October 22nd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, I didn't write Bottom!BearKu... (Yes I did)  
> (Also this is the chapter I got the title from)

Sunday morning was pleasant. They ate pancakes again and lounged around until 10 AM, bullshitting and messing around.

Kiyoshi made his presence known again. After spending ten minutes at his food dish eating, he threw up and ate again, the pig. Afterward, he decided that Vegeta’s lap would be his next napping spot. So Vegeta found himself trapped under a 20-pound cat that he thought he hated until he had sat down.

Kiyoshi was lazy and fat, sure, but he really liked to be pet and cuddle. Two characteristics that Vegeta shared. He couldn’t help but feel a reluctant connection with that cat, and he spent a good half hour petting him, much to Goku’s amusement. 

Vegeta knew that their time at the farm would soon come to an end, and as much as he didn’t want that, he knew that the next week he would spend at school would be significantly better than the last. 

He sighed, “‘Ku, I don’t want to leave.”

Goku laughed and kissed him lightly on the cheek, “Ah know, but ya can always come back with me every weekend if ya’d like to,”

Vegeta nodded and leaned his head against Goku’s chest. The paired warmth of that and Kiyoshi on his lap made him feel drowsy again. 

“Gotta name the foals before we go, though. Have you thought of anything yet?”

He shook his head, thinking back to the tiny horse he fed, “No, not yet. I’m sure I’ll be struck with something, though.”

“Oh, speakin’ a’ horses, we gotta go feed the little guys again. They’re startin’ to drink from their buckets but their not very used to it yet…” Goku stood off the couch and made his way to the door, “Gotta make sure they’ve got somethin’ in ‘em before we leave.”

Vegeta followed, reluctantly dropping Kiyoshi to the floor. He ran away with a hiss, he didn’t seem to happy about his bed leaving. 

The two went outside, happy to feel that the morning wasn’t as cold as expected. In the barn, all of the horses were awake and feeding themselves, Arabella whinnied at them in greeting. Goku chuckled and pet her muzzle, clicking affectionately at her. 

Vegeta made his way to the back, carefully avoiding stepping on chickens, and peeked into the foals stalls, happy to see that the one he had cared for yesterday was drinking greedily from a bucket hanging by the gate. He felt strangely attached to the little one, and he had a weird feeling that it had something to do with learning about his mother while feeding him.

He shook his head, sticking his hand down to pat him on the head. 

Goku came up behind him, “Oh, good. Ah was worried that they’d be late bloomers. They sure can eat a lot, huh?”

Vegeta nodded, turning back around to look at the others. Adonis gave him a gentle look, much to Goku’s chagrin, but the others seemed oddly calm in his presence. He eyed the nameplates.

“So…” He read them again, “They're named in twos?” He pointed to Adonis’ nameplate, and then to Aphrodite’s, directly across from him. Goku hummed in affirmation.

“Yeah. Roshi’s always done it that way, crazy old hag.”

Vegeta shrugged, “I don’t know, I think it’s cute. It’s convenient that the mum had twins then, huh? He gets to keep his pattern.”

Goku nodded, coming up behind Vegeta again and wrapping his arms loosely around his waist, “Ah guess so. It always seemed a bit corny to me, but Ah knew that it’s fun ta do somethin’ like that,”

Still hung around his waist, Goku lead Vegeta back to the foals, who had decided to stop eating and lay down.

“Ah’ve just been stumped on the little ones.”

Vegeta thought for a moment before a small smile split his lips, “Napoleon.”

“Huh?”

He pointed to the foal he had nursed, “He’s Napoleon,” He pointed to the other, which conveniently seemed to be a bit taller than the other, “And he’s Alexander.”

Goku stayed quiet for a moment, breathing deep into Vegeta’s ear. He nodded, “Ah like ‘em.”

He unraveled himself from his boyfriend and made his way to the front of the barn, picking up a thin piece of white chalk, “Ya wanna do the honors?”

Vegeta smiled at him, glancing down at the bare nameplates and holding out his hand for the chalk, “Sure.”

He crouched down next to Napoleon and printed his name out neatly and sketched a rough outline of France next to it, following the pattern of all the other plates that had little drawings. He did the same for Alexander, sketching Greece. He stood with a smile, nodding to himself.

“You’re good at namin’ things, hun.”

Vegeta shrugged, “They’re both bossy, they eat like pigs,” He turned to Goku with a wise smile, “It’s symbolic, if anything. It just came to me.”

“It fits,” Goku smiled down at him, “We gotta get goin’ now, though.”

Vegeta turned around, “You’ve got other things to do today?”

Goku shrugged, looking out the front entrance of the barn, “I was hopin’ we could go out somewhere. Do somethin’ other than just sit here.”

Vegeta nodded, thinking quietly to himself. He thought of the dirty things they did yesterday and he got an idea, “Let’s go to the beach,” he leaned against Goku’s shoulder.

“The beach? ‘Geta, the water’s gonna be freezin’.”

Vegeta wrapped his arms around Goku’s waist, pulling him in close. He hid his face in his shirt and hummed, “I know that. I don’t want to go to the beach to swim.”

Goku froze halfway through bringing his hands to Vegeta’s hips, “O-oh?”

Vegeta nodded again, smelling Goku’s still sweaty skin, “Yeah… When I said I was tempted to go there the other day it seemed like you didn’t even hear me. Do you want to fuck me?”

Goku stuttered for an answer for a moment, suddenly nervous to put his hands down on Vegeta, “U-uh…”

Vegeta rubbed his face again, “You literally had several fingers inside me yesterday. I don’t think it’s very different, do you?”

“A-Ah um…”

Goku was still lost for words. This made Vegeta chuckle a bit, “Have you thought about having sex with me before?”

Goku finally came back into himself, “Ah, uh, yeah, a’ course Ah have… It’s just…”

“Hmm?” Vegeta began to kiss at the bare skin of his neck, making Goku all but inarticulate again.

“I-it.. Don’cha think it’s a little soon for t-that?”

Vegeta shook his head, pulling away and taking Goku’s hands in his own, “No, I don’t,” He looked off, becoming disheartened, “If you don’t want to I understand…”

“No! A-Ah mean… I do…” He scratched the back of his head, “Ah guess Ah’m just nervous.”

Vegeta smiled warmly at him, pulling him in again so their chests met, “You weren’t nervous yesterday.”

Goku, finally calming down, kind of laughed, “Ah know. Ah guess Ah jus’ wanted to make ya feel good, ‘cause we got interrupted in the kitchen.”

Vegeta hummed, “I want to if you want to.”

Goku nodded with a little smile on his face, “Ah do want to,” he looked down at himself, “Ah should shower first though, huh?”

Vegeta laughed into his hand, “If you want to, that’s just fine with me.”

They made their way back inside, closing up the barn for the final time that weekend, and heading toward the house to prepare to leave. 

Just before Goku went into the upstairs bathroom to shower, though, Vegeta went in, and while taking a piss, a borderline evil thought crossed his mind.

With an evil grin, he washed his hands and sneakily took Goku’s vibrator from its spot in the shower, stealthily tucking it under his waistband before opening the door.

He was amused, at least. As Goku was showering, he heard frustrated half yells, rummaging and he thought for sure that he had heard him slip and fall, probably from trying to finger himself standing up. He knew it was mean, but he had more ideas for the little pink toy. He tucked it in his drawstring bag and closed it up, casually acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Goku came out of the bathroom soaking wet, and much to Vegeta’s amusement, he was unable to wrap his towel fully around himself because he was just that big. He didn’t bother with modesty, he would be having sex with Vegeta in less than an hour, what was the point in trying to hide himself anymore?

He towel-dried his hair and dressed simply. A t-shirt that was probably intended to be loose on anyone else and a light pair of blue jeans. Vegeta found that he really liked the way Goku looked in jeans.

He also found that, yes, while Goku was incredibly tall, he was also quite large. Thick, as he thought of it as. He was muscular, of course, but not to the point that he looked as if he was flexing while relaxed. He truly looked like a farm boy, and for some reason, Vegeta found that hot.

Goku was very himself. He took no bullshit and fought for the things he wanted. Being so headstrong was such a turn on for Vegeta, he failed to think of anything when he asked himself what may be wrong with such a seemingly perfect boy. 

He really tried to think of something. One thing that would make Goku more human. But for the life of him, that boy was just too amazing to criticize. 

But he seemed on edge. Vegeta knew exactly why that adorable pout found its way to Goku’s lips. He wasn’t able to pleasure himself in the shower, maybe he wanted to ease some of his nerves, but Vegeta would have none of that. Not for the sacrifice of his amazing plan.

Vegeta silently chuckled to himself as they made their way downstairs, leaving Goku’s bedroom for one final time. If he didn’t end up with Goku wrapped even tighter around his little finger by the end of today, he had no idea what would get him to be. 

He was excited, to say the least. The thought itself made his mouth water, and his jeans grow ever tighter as the car drive progressed.

Goku was wound so tightly Vegeta could see it in every part of his body. His knuckles were white holding onto the steering wheel, his shoulders looked hard and tense. His left leg was bouncing about absently as he drove. Vegeta had a very hard time holding his amusement back.

“You alright, ‘Ku?”

He watched as the muscles under the skin of Goku’s jaw clenched roughly, but his voice came out smooth as ever, “Never been better, hun.”

They both knew that he was full of shit. Vegeta had never seen Goku look so pissy. Even after beating people up he didn’t look half as bratty as he did then.

The drive took a long time. They didn’t pull up to the beach until half an hour had passed. The anticipation of getting intimate with Goku had Vegeta fighting nerves as well. His hands were beginning to shake and his vision went blurry every so often from loss of concentration on the road. He wasn’t worried about being seen or something going wrong, he was worried about how Goku would react to that vibrator being pulled out. He was terrified that Goku wouldn’t be happy that he snatched something so personal from his bathroom, especially after he was pretty sure Goku had fallen in the shower trying to finger himself.

Regardless, he still felt butterflies of excitement in his belly, along with something else that had become all too familiar around Goku.

The beach was entirely void of people, as Vegeta expected. Swimming wasn’t really a hobby for people when winter was less than a month away.

They drove up the same path as last time, rumbling along with the upturned rocks and peeking roots until coming to the high clearing overlooking the water. 

Goku looked just about ready to explode in his seat. As soon as he pulled up the emergency brake he unbuckled himself and Vegeta at the same time and muscled Vegeta out of his seat.

He easily lifted the smaller boy out of the passenger side and over the center console, into his lap. He immediately ravished his mouth, groaning and moaning against Vegeta’s responsive, equally hungry lips. 

The two clashed for a minute, sucking on each other’s tongues and biting at lips. Vegeta brought his hands up to Goku’s face, holding his head between them to push further. Their bodies pressed together so tightly that the heat shared between them made the windows of the truck fog up a bit. 

Vegeta, though completely enamored by the talent of Goku’s tongue, kept his mind sharp enough to be keeping a bit of attention on his bag, which he had thrown in the back seat. Goku’s skin was sweltering underneath his shirt, Vegeta could feel the arousal virtually coming from him in waves. He broke their kiss for just a second to slip the garment back over Goku’s head, he tossed it into the passenger seat and went right back to Goku’s chest, groping the stiff muscles with curious fingers. Goku sighed into his mouth, pressing their hips together. His big hands found themselves placed firmly on Vegeta’s hips, pulling him down as he thrust up to grind against him. 

Vegeta couldn’t help but gasp at the contact. Knowing just how much pleasure Goku could give him with his mouth alone made him believe that this would be much different than what he was used to.

Seemingly growing impatient, Goku growled lowly to himself, reaching one hand down to slide the driver's seat all the way back. He lifted Vegeta from his place on his lap and all but tossed him in the small backseat. Vegeta was having a hard time keeping his laughter to himself. Seeing Goku so needy and desperate was definitely arousing, but almost equally funny.

Goku slid the seat back up, struggling to hoist his large body from it and squeeze through the space between the seats to get in the back with Vegeta. Wasting no time, He pulled Vegeta’s shirt off and began to kiss down his torso. Vegeta pushed him away, denying the very tempting blowjob he was subtly offered. 

Instead, he pushed Goku over so he was leaning over the tall boy. He bit at his lips again playfully while skillfully popping open the top button of Goku’s jeans. He lifted his hips so Vegeta could tug them down, and with a snicker, Vegeta pulled both his jeans and boxers down to the knee. 

Goku kicked his boots off and wiggled his pants down the rest of the way, eventually kicking those off as well.

Vegeta took a moment to admire Goku’s fully naked form, he was truly something to look at. His muscles were thick and strong, his wide chest heaved with anticipating breaths, waiting for Vegeta to make a move. 

Goku’s length was impressive, but nothing unexpected. Vegeta knew that he had to be packing something of substance down there, and he was proven right.

With a nervous lick of his lips, he descended on the girthy erection, swallowing as much as he could in one go. What he couldn’t quite fit was found in the palm of his hand, being worked in tandem with his bobbing. 

Much to his pleasure, Goku was a screamer. He wouldn’t keep quiet for anything, he didn’t bother covering his mouth or biting his lips, he just let out all of his moans with as much humility as a rutting dog. The display only drove Vegeta on more, sucking harder and stealthily undoing his own jean button to relieve some strain.

With a smirk, Vegeta came off him, slowly pushing three fingers beyond Goku’s plump lips and into the hot cavern of his mouth. Being denied penetration while showering seemed to be paying off in Vegeta’s favor, Goku sucked greedily on his fingers, slathering them with saliva before opening his mouth to signal that they were properly lubricated. 

Vegeta leaned up to give him a quick peck on the lips before spreading his legs apart further, one going up all the way into the top corner of the cab while the other was left useless behind the passenger seat.

With as much care as Vegeta could muster with his thoughts hazy with lust, he pressed a single finger against his eager rosebud, slipping through fairly easily. He chuckled to himself as he took Goku’s length into his mouth again, returning the favor that he was given the day before.

His finger found a silky bump, and he couldn’t help but grin around the thickness in his mouth. He pressed down on it just hard enough that Goku’s mewls became just a bit higher, his hips urgently twitching upward and begging for more attention. 

Vegeta complied, pushing a second digit in and spreading his fingers wide to stretch his lover out more.

Goku’s moans were becoming harder and harder to ignore, if Vegeta’s borderline throbbing erection was any indication. He unzipped his pants and pulled them down just enough that his still clothed cock hung free. He added a third finger, harshly curling around Goku’s sensitive prostate. He all but howled and arched his back, letting loose a steady, thick stream of come into Vegeta’s mouth. 

Greedily swallowing it all, Vegeta pulled his fingers from inside him and pushed his boxers down to just below mid-thigh. He lifted one of Goku’s legs up for leverage and pressed in, letting the eager hole suck him into its intoxicating warmth. 

They let out their noises in unison, Vegeta’s being much tamer and controlled. Goku seemed about ready to lose his mind, and they had barely gotten started. 

Slowly pressing in to the hilt took all of Vegeta’s self-control. He didn’t want to hurt Goku or himself, but his ass felt so good that it was hard to resist the urge to sheathe himself fully and pound Goku into oblivion.

That would have to wait. 

He inched back out, being mindful to spread some of his own salivae over his shaft before pushing back in. 

Being so full made Goku cry out loud, his hands scrambled for something to hold onto. His left hand found the back of the driver's seat, his right lacing fingers with Vegeta’s.

The simple act of holding hands made everything seem much softer and emotional. Vegeta stopped his movement completely to lean down and capture Goku’s lips again, much more gently than before. 

Their tongues languidly ran across each other, Vegeta swallowing all of Goku’s desperate moans in his own mouth. He began to move again, oh so slowly pushing the rest of the way in to bury himself completely. Something changed when their hips met flush and Goku let out one significant keening whine of need.

Vegeta left his mouth and gripped tightly onto Goku’s hand for a brace, and started to pump slowly in and out of him. The heat of it was maddening, and the tightness was so much more intense than he had anticipated. He wasn’t complaining, though. With Goku wrapped around him so snugly, he felt the urge to plunder the largers mouth and did just that. 

He picked up the pace while securely held onto by his hand, the one leg he had lifted for his entry was slowly but surely making its way to rest on his shoulder. 

Before long, both of them felt the tight coils of an impending orgasm. Still with his plan in mind, Vegeta angled himself up just a bit to jab at Goku’s prostate enough to make him scream out in ecstasy, shooting come up to his chest.

Vegeta worked himself to completion soon after, pulling out and stealthily opening his bag for the vibrator inside while Goku was still gathering his wits. He leaned forward with the toy in his hand, positioned for entry, and shielded Goku’s view of his arm with the sight of him licking him clean.

Just as Goku seemed to be catching his breath, Vegeta went in to kiss him hard, sliding to cool toy into his already stretched, slick entrance.

Goku’s eyes flew open, shoving Vegeta back by the shoulders to inspect exactly what was happening. At the recognition of his misplaced vibrator, Goku made a choked sound, something between shock, embarrassment, and lust.

With his hand firm, Vegeta gently angled the toy up to tease at Goku’s already abused prostate. He hovered over that all too familiar highest setting for a moment before pressing the button down, sending the encased toy into a rumbling frenzy. 

Goku instantly began thrashing about, his hands once again seeking stability on anything that would offer it. His needy cries began to border on screaming as Vegeta angled the toy once more, sending shocks through his sensitive g-spot. 

Goku finally found enough sense in himself to slap a large hand over his mouth to muffle his sobbing.

Vegeta smirked. Such a small object had enough power to render Goku entirely helpless. He was a shaking mess, tears of pleasure beginning to leak from his eyes. Vegeta knew that a third orgasm was pushing it, especially in such a short amount of time, but he decided quickly that he didn’t really give a damn how long it took. The longer he was able to stay there and watch his Goku writhe, the better.

Goku was again fully hard, and with his free hand, Vegeta squeezed around the base and leaned down to take the angry erection in his mouth again.

Goku’s screams were suddenly silenced as the hot mouth began to milk him once again. He lost all ability to do anything other than feel and enjoy. He thought he might die as Vegeta, being the teasing bastard we was, switched the intensity down to one. 

“No! ‘Geta DON’T!” 

The plea made Vegeta chuckle. Goku sure was cute like this, even if it was the most erotic thing Vegeta had ever seen with his own eyes. He kept the vibrator low for a minute, slowing his sucking to languid pulls. Goku started to whine again, kicking and throwing a fit, desperately twisting his hips in an effort to force Vegeta to turn it up again.

After a little bit, Vegeta flicked it back on without warning, pushing it harshly up into his prostate.

His screaming returned full force, his cock twitched in Vegeta’s mouth, just on the edge of release.

With one last twist of his wrist, Vegeta finally sent Goku over the edge a third time. He didn’t come nearly as much, but the intensity of the orgasm itself left Goku shaking for a solid minute. He shivered as Vegeta turned the vibrator off and pulled it out, setting it on the center console. Goku used all of his strength to force his legs to move to wrap around Vegeta’s waist and pull him forward so he rested on his chest. 

They wrapped their arms around each other, breathing heavily. Vegeta pushed his head into Goku’s chest in an effort to get as close as possible. Goku hugged him tight, leaning his head down to bury his face in his hair.

“You’re beautiful, ‘Ku.”

Goku laughed deeply, voice raw from his moaning, “So are you.”

They laid there for what seemed like hours. With a little bit of help from Vegeta, Goku put his jeans back on for modesty sake and pulled him down to cuddle again.

Without saying anything, the two took a nap, falling asleep in each other's arms. 

When they woke up it was just about dusk, the sky lit up into a bright orange as the sun dipped below the horizon. 

With a smile, Goku put on his shirt again and got out of the truck to fetch a blanket from the back. The two sat on the edge of the cliff together, blanket wrapped around their shoulders, and talked for a while.

Goku looked down at Vegeta with a sly smile, “You’re a dirty bastard.”

Vegeta laughed heartily, scooching a bit closer, “I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see how you take it.”

Goku was silent for a moment, blushing, “It’s kinda embarrassin’,” He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling, “Ah guess that doesn’t matter, huh?”

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Vegeta comforted him, gently scratching at the short hairs under his chin, “You were adorable.”

“Thanks, hun.”

They watched as the sun slowly dipped completely out of sight, leaving the sky with only faint streaks of light. They stood together, moving back to the truck after the sky went fully black. 

The drove away from the beach in comfortable silence, hands joined over the center console. 

Vegeta found himself wanting anything but to go back to the Briefs. But tomorrow was Monday, and he was planning to talk to Mr. Popo about moving house. Suddenly excited, Vegeta shifted his gaze from the trees whizzing by to Goku’s serene looking face.

“I’m moving in.” He stated it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

A slow smile spread across Goku’s face, “You are.”

Vegeta bounced in his seat a bit, “I’m gonna pack as soon as I get home.”

Goku chuckled a bit and ran his thumb over the back of Vegeta’s hand. He didn’t say anything in response, but he didn’t have to. Everything that had gone on last week didn’t matter anymore. Zarbon didn’t matter, and neither did Dodoria or Yemma. They weren’t going to let them get in the way anymore. 

Internally, Goku apologized for being so soft. He let Zarbon get in too easily. He had preached to Vegeta that Zarbon would play mind games with him, but he had already fallen victim to them by letting him go in the first place.

He definitely regretted being away for those few days, they weren’t nice. He constantly felt like he was missing something, but he’d never let Vegeta know that. He would talk to Raditz about him during that whole week, about how amazing and smart he is, how much he wished that he would just put his foot down and chase after him.

Looking back on it, he felt stupid. Of course Vegeta wouldn’t chase after someone he had only met a few days prior. If anything, Vegeta should’ve been more upset than he was, though he was livid at best. 

Goku thought back on how Vegeta had collapsed crying into his arms in the back hall. He had looked so heartbroken, like Goku had taken everything he loved and ripped it away. But he was so angry that he actually would’ve punched him if he could. The thought made Goku’s chest tighten. He didn’t want Vegeta to suffer, that was the last thing he wanted, but maybe they needed to be apart to see how much they actually meant to each other.

Without Vegeta, Goku felt lost, like he was the most alone he’d ever been in his life. There was an empty void that stared at him, the one that was there even before Vegeta came along, but after he had lost him again, it seemed even bigger. Vegeta had made him feel normal. He didn’t talk down to him or make him feel stupid like everyone else did, he backed him up even when he didn’t have to. He had risked a lot for Goku, but he never boasted about it or made him feel guilty.

And even after all that, he didn’t hesitate a single second when Goku asked him out. Any other person would’ve been angry, how dare he ask someone out after pushing them away for three days? There wasn’t a shred of logic in it, but Vegeta didn’t seem to care at all. 

He really did miss Goku, even after he had acted like an idiot and pushed him away. He had even worried about his safety to the point that he went to his house to be sure of it. Vegeta made it out to be that Goku gave him everything, the way that he fought for him when he was hurt and defended him when others were talking bad. But Vegeta had given just as much to Goku, just in a different way. 

He didn’t care that Goku had a violent disposition, or that he was a bit thick at times. If anything, he admired the way that he fought for his independence, refusing to take advantage of his parents' wealth. To Vegeta, he was the definition of what he thought to be honorable.

He hadn’t even know Vegeta the first time he defended him. That really proved to Vegeta that he was something special. 

They pulled into the Satan Gated Community, simultaneously sighing, wordlessly expressing their reluctance to separate.

Goku slowly pulled into the Briefs driveway, “Ya got everythin’?”

Vegeta nodded to himself, “Yeah, I think so,” He smiled across the cab, “I had a really good time this weekend.”

Goku reached over to hold Vegeta’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning his head so they made eye contact, “Me too, hun.”

Vegeta shook his head with an affectionate smile, they both leaned over to gently kiss a few times. Despite how dirty and raw their kisses were earlier, ones so loving left them both red in the cheeks.

“I-I’ll see you tomorrow.” Vegeta didn’t lean away and looked deep into Goku’s eyes, who smiled back and kissed him on the forehead.

“Ya sure will.”

With a shy smile, Vegeta jumped out of the truck and closed the door, meekly waving to Goku as he walked to the front door. Goku didn’t pull out until he saw the faint wiggle of the door handle being locked from the inside.

No one seemed to be in the kitchen, which was unusual for the time. He checked his phone for the first time in two days, grinning when he saw a few texts from Bulma.

 **VEGETA YOU CASANOVA YOU HAVE TO TELL ME EVERYTHING** Friday, 7:12 pm

 **Vegeta Breigh, the ultimate Goku Son charmer. You gotta tell me if you get laid.** Friday, 10:48 pm

 **God he must really got you on your back if you don’t even have enough time to look at your phone ;)** Saturday, 10:26 am

 **Alright I’ll leave you alone lol but you better talk when you get home or I’ll never forgive you.** Saturday, 4:18 pm

Vegeta smiled at the fact that she thought he would be the one on his back. To be fair, he would have if he hadn’t discovered that vibrator in the bathroom.

 **If you get home and we’re not there we went out for dinner. Mom says help yourself to whatevers in the pantry** 5:29 pm

Vegeta nodded to himself, going to the kitchen to fix up some food. He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and with the energy he spent with Goku earlier, he decided that he was famished. 

He spent half an hour in the kitchen, lazily snacking on things until he was full. He saw his phone light up from on the counter. A text from Goku.

 **Lets go for lunch tomorrow** 7:05 pm

He finished chewing the bite in his mouth and swallowed. Of course Goku would think up more excuses to spend time together.

 **We eat lunch at school. And don’t you have detention?** 7:07 pm

A response came through almost instantly.

 **Lol whats wrong with a second lunch? I can skip, not like I haven’t before** 7:07 pm

 **You are not skipping detention to eat.** 7:08 pm

 **I can eat you if you want** 7:09 pm

Vegeta chuckled and shook his head. Goku sure did know how to get his mind going.

 **Lmao you’re a pig.** 7:09 pm

A few minutes later, when Vegeta was in his room packing, another text came through.

 **Just think about it k?** 7:16 pm 

Deciding not to respond, Vegeta smiled again. Goku was such a nerd, he couldn’t even begin to get over it. He was excited to be living with him soon, that would prove to be fun. He very well may be satisfied with never leaving the house if that was the case.

With everything unessential packed away, Vegeta sat on his bed and stared around the room. When he had done this back home he was kind of sad to be leaving, but more excited to go and experience new things. The feeling was very similar to the one he was having then. He liked living with the Briefs, they were funny and friendly, and he got along great with Trunks. But he could visit whenever if he ever missed them. 

A strange part of him was excited to spend time with Raditz as well. Goku was the main reason for moving, but there was something about that little girl that made his chest glow. She was so sweet with Goku, and he seemed to cherish his siblingship with her, he wanted to know what if was like to have a sibling like that. One that wasn’t like Tarble. 

Vegeta felt drained. It had been such a good day, but exhausting at the same time. The lack of natural light, paired with his fatigue told him that is was high time to lay down and rest. 

Even though he had napped with Goku just a few hours earlier, it didn’t really make up for the limited sleep he had the night before, plus the energy he used to fuck Goku stupid. It was time for bed. 

He laid down, ignoring the niggling feeling in his gut that went along with the excitement of seeing Goku in the morning, and fell asleep.


	8. Monday, October 23rd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The last chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, I've just been really busy and to be honest this fic is really hard to write. But it's finished now, so enjoy!

Monday mornings were never Vegeta’s favorite, but he knew that he would see Goku soon, and that made his routine so much more upbeat. 

He showered with a tune on his lips and brushed his teeth while humming to himself. Bulma gave him a sly, knowing look, and he happily flipped her off while munching on his breakfast. 

He actually packed a lunch for once, and with a quick check of his phone, he decided to wear a sweater. The weather was slowly but surely becoming colder, the edge of winter peeking around here and there. 

As he was walking out of the house, Goku was waiting by the truck at the end of the driveway. The gesture made Vegeta smile, and Bulma elbowed his with that same smile from earlier. 

He rode to school with Goku for the first time, and it was the first time he had seen student parking with anything other than the truck in it. There were people everywhere, most obvious of all Zarbon, who still had a pretty dark mark around his eye. He was sitting on the hood of his own car, and Vegeta watched as he eyed Goku walk around the front of the truck and open the passenger side door for him. 

His jaw all but dropped as Vegeta hopped out and Goku wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He lead the two of them over to where Tien and Launch were hanging around.

“Mornin’, guys!” Goku waved his free hand and Tien waved back. 

“Mornin’, Son! Looks like it worked out, huh?” Tien asked, looking pointedly at Vegeta. Both of them blushed for different reasons. 

Goku rubbed the back of his neck, “U-uh, yeah. We did some talking over the weekend.”

_ ‘Yeah,  _ lots  _ of talking’ _ , Vegeta thought to himself, blush intensifying. He grabbed onto the hand around his shoulders.

Tien gave them both a knowing look, “You fucked, didn’t you?”

Goku blustered for a moment, his grip on Vegeta’s hand tightening a bit, “Ah… Uh…”

Tien’s eyes widened, “Shit, I was kidding!” He laughed a bit, “I wasn’t expecting you to have actually done it. You’re such a dog, Son.”

“It was nothing like that,” Vegeta chimed in, shy, “If anything I was the dog.”

After a few moments of tense silence, Goku cleared his throat, “Well, uh, we’re gonna head off to class. See ya at lunch!”

He led Vegeta off in an embarrassed hurry, whispering to him, “Why did ya say that?”

Vegeta shrugged, “I was saving you from an accusation, I guess? Besides, I did top you.”

Goku sighed, moving his arm from around vegeta’s shoulders to hold his hand, “Thanks, hun. So, uh,” he hesitated, “What about lunch? You never texted me back last night.”

Vegeta shook his head, “Once you serve your detention sentence we can go. You don’t need to be getting in any more trouble.”

Goku chuckled, shaking Vegeta back and forth a bit, “Are ya sayin’ that ‘cause my ma told ya to keep me in line?”

Vegeta pushed him away playfully, “Not just that. Getting in trouble isn’t good for you. You need to spend more time away from here to clear your mind.”

“Hey, it ain’t that bad anymore. As long as Ah get to talk to you Ah’m alright.” Goku leaned in to kiss the top of Vegeta’s head, but he ducked away.

“No, ‘Ku. You can’t depend on me for stuff like that. I’m more than happy to try and cheer you up and talk to you about things, but once I go back to Switzerland I won’t be able to do that for you anymore.”

Goku deflated, “Ah forgot about that.”

Vegeta came back in to hug him tight, “Don’t worry about it for now, ‘Ku. Even after I go back I’ll still talk to you. We can Skype anytime, how’s that sound?”

Goku nodded a bit, lightening up, “Yeah, that sounds nice. Maybe Ah’ll come to visit sometimes.”

Though Vegeta knew that the probability of Goku taking a flight overseas anytime soon was slim to none, the thought of having him at dinner with his father and brother, talking about everything under the sun made a smile creep onto his face. 

They strolled into the building hand in hand, blatantly ignoring every single person that turned their head. It was obvious to Vegeta that Goku wasn’t nervous anymore, if anything, he was proud to have Vegeta on his arm. They had fought tooth and nail for the moment they could be open, and now that it was in their grasp, they were far from willing to let go. 

They walked into English a few minutes before the bell was supposed to ring, and Vegeta sat backward at his desk, laying his head down on Goku’s.

“I can’t believe we just walked through here holding hands. That’s crazy.”

Goku laughed and leaned back to get a better view of Vegeta’s face, “Well ya better get used to it, hun. Ah plan on holdin’ hands every day.”

Goku encouraged him to ignore everyone else as they filed in. He was still self conscious and a bit nervous, but Goku's strong and reassuring hand over his calmed his nerves a great deal.

During English, Vegeta found himself to be too distracted to really pay attention. He knew that he would have to run the move by Mr. Popo at the end of the hour, and even though it was his idea, the thought was still nerve wracking. Maybe the offer had been rescinded after the debacle with Zarbon in the cafeteria. That would really suck, especially after making plans and packing everything.

There was a light tap on Vegeta's left shoulder. He lowered his arm to hang down and Goku slipped a folded piece of paper between his fingers. Taking a deep breath, Vegeta brought the note up to unfold and read when Popo turned back toward the board.

_ I didn’t get a chance to say anything but you look really cute today. It’s makin me wanna kiss you. _

The blatancy of the note left Vegeta with a weird fluttering feeling in his stomach. Knowing that Goku was thinking about touching him in any way made the tips of his fingers twitch.

Checking that Popo was still turned away, he flipped the paper over and wrote on the backside.

_ There are like 5 different back staircases that provide ample cover to get me against a wall. After lunch? _

He passed the note back, smiling when it was immediately taken from his grasp. Vegeta heard the faint sound of Goku gasping and smiled. The note wasn’t returned, but Goku brought his big hand up to Vegeta's left arm again, and ran it gently down the length, a silent promise for some playing later.

Just thinking about it threw Vegeta's concentration off even more, but he really couldn’t help but play a few scenarios out in his head, one of which was  _ definitely  _ not fit to be performed in school. 

Finally, the bell rung, and Vegeta was left to watch all the students leave without him. He went up to Mr. Popo's desk, and laid his hands on it to catch the sitting mans attention. 

“Good morning, Vegeta,” he greeted without looking up, “Have you made a decision?”

Vegeta nodded, “Yes. I’ve decided that I’ll move to the Son house.”

Mr. Popo looked up at him with a smile, “Wonderful. I’ll run the change by Student Services later today, so feel free to move house whenever you please.”

Vegeta thought for sure that the process would be more complicated than that, but ignored it for sake of simplicity. He walked out of the classroom, Goku right behind him. 

He reached for his partners hand and they walked down the now less crowded halls to algebra.

The class went by without much action; Goku (as usual) didn’t hand in his homework and doodled instead of taking notes. Vegeta had trouble concentrating in general because he kept looking toward the back of the room to stare at his boyfriend. He figured that he could logic out the homework easily enough, Goku was just too much of an angel not to stare at.

They gave each other a quick parting peck on the lips as Vegeta went downstairs to gym, reluctant to break apart. Vegeta noticed a few side eyes but chose to ignore them. None of that mattered anymore. There was no one left to get in the way of their relationship, and now that Vegeta’s moving in was official, there wasn’t much that could bring him down.

Vegeta felt butterflies in his stomach as lunch neared, he had planned to run off with Goku and do God knows what to each other… The anticipation of doing something like that in public sent pleasant chills down his spine. 

The sight of Goku was a calming one as he threaded himself through the crowds of students to get to him. He had already gotten Vegeta and himself a lunch and started eating. Vegeta found himself chuckling. That boy sure could pack it away.

Goku’s smile was pretty much lighting up Vegeta’s whole goddamn world, he sat next to the taller boy and didn’t bother holding back the grin that came to his lips when he felt the weight of Goku’s arm slung around his waist. 

It was definitely a good day. Goku did notice a few dirty looks from some people, but just held Vegeta tighter. They could glare all they wanted, it didn’t change how happy Goku felt when he was with Vegeta. 

There was plenty of conversation happening at the table, specifically between Goku and Tien, but Vegeta couldn’t make himself listen. He was jittery in his seat and glancing at the clock on the wall every few seconds, willing the minutes to go by quicker so he could have Goku pressed against him.

Even after yesterday, Vegeta had the urge to take Goku again. Seeing him in so much pleasure that he cried and shook and screamed, it was hard to get out of his head, and it just made him more frustrated that the damn clock wouldn’t just  _ go.  _

Lunch did eventually pass, but not without Goku shaking Vegeta from his distracted stupor a few times. After a bit he caught on and gave him a smile that would look gentle to anyone else, but Vegeta knew the connotations of the tiny curl of his upper lip.

The fact that Goku knew exactly what Vegeta wanted and refused to give it to him then and there was frustrating. Though Vegeta knew that he had to wait for some privacy, nothing was more of a tease than not being able to touch the one person you want to when they’re right next to you.   
He felt everything. Goku’s hands were hot against his skin, the sweater he decided to wear only making it warmer. 

He really needed to get out of those clothes.

When the bell finally rang, Vegeta lla but dragged Goku out of his seat and away from the café, he needed to get as far away from everyone else as he possibly could. They got a few strange looks from the others at the table but paid them no mind. Vegeta, though he couldn’t nearly fit his hand around Goku’s wrist, had a bruising grip on him as he pulled him to the south staircase. 

Goku was giggling nervously behind him, but followed in pace anyway. He was just as eager to get his hands on Vegeta as he was that morning, the sweater Vegeta wore really did something to him.

They ran up the stairs, all three flights, without stopping. There was too much to be done to slow down.

When they got to the top, Vegeta immediately pressed his back against the tile wall and pulled Goku against him, throwing his hips forward to grind against his partner. Goku chuckled deep in his chest and ran a hand down Vegeta’s face and cupped his cheek.

“You look stunning today.”

Before Vegeta had a chance to blush Goku leaned down and stole his lips. The gentleness of the kiss made Vegeta sigh. He was relieved to finally have some contact, but at the same time it wasn’t nearly enough. He needed to be kissed rougher, held tighter, pushed harder.

He swiped his tongue along Goku’s bottom lip, but was denied the pleasure of slipping inside. He whined, wiggling around in protest. 

The kiss didn’t last very long before Vegeta pulled away, breathing hard and looking up into Goku’s eyes with sparkling hope.

“Let’s go.”

Goku cocked an eyebrow, looking down at Vegeta with an amused smile, “What?”

Vegeta bounced on the heels of his feet, “You wanted to go out for lunch, so let’s go. Fuck school today.”

“Ah thought you said you didn’t want to get me in any more trouble?” Goku smirked into Vegeta’s hair.

Without responding, Vegeta simply grunted and pulled Goku back down the stairs. They looked around, checking that the hallways were clear before leaving through a side door and sprinting around the building to student parking. 

They giggled the whole way, adrenaline flowing through their veins. Neither of them have actually left school in the middle of the day, and the thought of being caught was thrilling. 

Goku unlocked the truck from a distance, and Vegeta wasted no time hopping in without help. Goku threw himself over the hood and pulled in, wasting no time shoving the key in the ignition and pulling the shift into drive. 

They pulled out, weaving through all the other cars, and out onto the street. Vegeta couldn’t for the life of him wipe the smile off his face. Goku rolled the windows down and turned on the radio, more heavy metal blasting through the speakers.

They drove away from town. They wanted nothing to do with the world that day, and didn’t really care where they went to get away from it. The day was bright, though it was cold. The sun made the vivid red and orange leaves on the ground and trees almost shimmer, it felt surreal.

The road never ended, it seemed. They wound up four towns over in a small diner, sitting across from each other at a small table with excitedly bouncing legs.

“I can’t believe we just left!” Vegeta whisper screamed, completely ignoring the menu and lemon water in front of him in favor for staring right at Goku’s face. Goku smiled back.

“You’re the one that suggested it, silly. We can go back, if ya want.”

Vegeta shook his head and tapped his fingers, “Of course not. What do we do after this?”

Goku shrugged, sipping on his coffee, “Ah was thinkin’ we could go back home and move all your stuff in. Ya got a key, right?”

“I do,” Vegeta thought for a moment before a devilish smile crept onto his face, “And your parents will be working, won’t they?”

Goku smirked back, catching on, “That they will be.”

The two stared at each other in silence for a minute before a waitress came and took their order. After she left they just continued to look into each other’s eyes.

Goku smiled a bit wider and shook his head a little, “Really though, you look adorable today. It’s not fair.”

Vegeta felt his face redden and hit it in his hands, “Would you stop saying shit like that? It’s just making me wanna take you again,” he whispered low. The diner wasn’t  _ that  _ busy, but there were still people around, and the last thing they needed was any more weird looks.

“Just give it an hour or so. We’ll be back home and you’ll have me all to yourself.”

Vegeta attempted to rub the blood from his cheeks without much success, and said nothing. A few minutes later their food arrived and they ate in silence.

Vegeta wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, so he just slowly picked at his food, more distracted by the smile on Goku’s lips and the simple pleasure of looking at his hands.

“Is something wrong?” Goku noticed that the food on Vegeta’s plate was just moving around instead of being eaten.

Vegeta shook his head with a faint smile, “Nah, I'm just thinking about getting you back home.”

Goku blushed, noticeably eating his food a bit faster.    


The rest of lunch didn’t take long. Vegeta did end up finishing the rest of his food, only because he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he didn’t.

As soon as the last bite hit his tongue Goku slapped some cash down on the table and practically dragged Vegeta out of there by the wrist and threw him into the truck.

They drove away, retracing their steps back home. Vegeta couldn’t keep the smirk from his face as he teased Goku the whole way home.

He spoke about ‘settling in’ after bringing all of his things upstairs, maybe Goku could give him a tour of his room and ‘show him around’. The constant innuendos forced Goku to bounce his left leg up and down, he could feel the frustration welling up inside him, but Vegeta showed no signs of letting up. 

Goku had a hard time concentrating on the road, but thankfully there were only a few miles left until the Satan Gated Community, and he’d be able to work off some of that steam before anyone else got home. 

Vegeta, on the other hand, chuckled to himself and pulled out his phone, deciding to give Goku a bit of a break for the time being. He liked to poke fun at him, but he wasn’t trying to be cruel. 

He pulled out his phone to a text from Bulma. He didn’t bother opening it, though, he wasn’t going back to school today and by the time she got home with Trunks all of his things would be in another house. He decided to text her back later, after he’d finished with Goku.

The truck careened into the community driveway, Goku in no mood to be pussyfooting around. He pulled into the Briefs’ driveway for the nth time that week, but before Vegeta had a chance to hop out and go inside, Goku fisted the front of his sweater and pulled him in close. The sudden rough gesture sent tendrils of lightning down Vegeta’s legs.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Goku speaking to him with his eyes that  _ he better damn well hurry up. _

Vegeta chuckled quietly and kissed him on the tip of the nose, laying his hand over Goku's fist to encourage him to let go. He did reluctantly.

“Do you want any help?” He called from the driver's seat as Vegeta hopped out, about to slam the door.

He shook his head, “Nah, I don’t have much anyway. I can do it in one trip.”

Vegeta finally shut the door and made his way inside. He didn’t notice that his hands were shaking until he had quite a bit of trouble shoving the key into the hole to unlock the door. He shook his head and shouldered it open, leaving it ajar as he jogged up the stairs and took a left into his bedroom.

He wasn’t exactly  _ lying  _ when he said he could make it in one trip, but that didn’t mean it would be easy. Vegeta was sure that there was an underlying testosterone-fueled motivation to do it all by himself, but he chose to ignore it and started hooking bags on his skinny arms. 

Vegeta had just enough strength to lift everything from the floor and haul it downstairs. He noticed that Goku had done him a cute little favor by opening up the tailgate and sitting on it, waiting to help him hike everything up into the back.

They exchanged soft glances for a few seconds before Goku stole a quick peck on the mouth. 

“I’m going to go check if I missed anything.” Vegeta chuckled and strolled away, leaving Goku with a dumb grin on his face. 

Upstairs again, Vegeta gathered the last few things laying around, a pair of shoes in the corner, a few pencils laying on the windowsill, and the winter jacket he left hanging in the closet. He took one last look around from the doorway, sighing deep and closing the door with a deciding click.

Finished with sentiment, Vegeta wasted no time sliding down the banister and slamming the front door shut behind him. He deadbolted it from the outside and went to hop into the front seat with the rest of his things sitting in his lap.

“Ready?” Goku turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life as he backed out of the driveway and turned around to head the direction of his own house.

The trip inside was far less tiring with Goku there demanding that he take most of the burden, but the two boys made it upstairs in one piece regardless. Goku kicked his slightly open bedroom door in, revealing quite a large room, all painted in a pale sky blue. The bed was big as well, though Vegeta figured it would had to have been, considering just how big the guy who slept in it was. The whole mattress was framed with an ornate iron stand, lifting the whole thing a foot and a half off the floor. 

“You’ll be in here.” Goku set down his arms fulls of bags on the floor in a corner and turned to Vegeta with a gentle smile on his face. 

Vegeta looked around one more time, taking in just how much cleaner this room was compared to the one back at the farm, “This is your room?”

Goku nodded, taking the remaining bags from Vegeta’s hands and setting them on the floor, “Yeah, this is it. It’s not the most interesting, but it’s an alright place to sleep, don’cha think?”

Vegeta nodded back and walked across the room, hoisting himself up on the tall bed. He made a mental not to try and not fall off of it in the middle of the night, but he figured that it might happen anyway, if Goku turned out to toss and turn more than he did on the farm. 

“Yeah,” He smiled up at Goku, “I think it’s nice.”

“Fuck, Ah almost forgot,” Goku rushed up to Vegeta, taking the wrists that sat in his lap and yanking him up from the bed. He twisted around so his back rested against the wall with his hands up by his shoulders, “You’re a god-damned tease and Ah really think you owe me one for bein’ such a little shit.”

Vegeta couldn’t keep away the sly grin that pulled on the corners of his mouth, “Well, I think I should just keep you waiting. Lord knows you need to work of your patience.”

Goku shook his head, “Ah think Ah practiced plenty of patience drivin’ home with you all over me. Ah coulda just pulled over and taken ya in the back.”

Vegeta chuckled, pulling down on Goku’s hands so they came face to face, and ran the tip of his nose all the way across his jaw and up to his ear, “We both know that you won’t take shit. Even if you didn’t want a cock in your ass, you’re too much of a pussy to take what you want anyway. So stop pretending and let me do what I do best.”

“And that is?”

“Making you shake.” Vegeta traced a hot tongue over the shell of Goku’s ear, huffing heated breath into his face. Goku was already getting flushed in the cheeks, and Vegeta knew that it wouldn’t take much longer to have him putty in his hands. Goku sank even lower toward the floor as Vegeta laughed deep in his throat again, the vibrations almost reverberating so strongly that Goku could feel them leaving goosebumps across his skin.

Vegeta muscled Goku away from the wall and lead him back toward the bed, the edge of it catching the backs of his knees, making him fall over. Vegeta used his downward momentum to swing himself up to sit across Goku’s lap. 

He immediately leaned down to run his nose along Goku’s neck, teasing him with light touches and heavy breathing. Goku completely fell into his trap, his muscles twitched with pent up energy, all his body wanted was to be touched. 

Vegeta suckled on the sensitive part of skin under his jaw, leaving a light hickey. He bit and nibbled on Goku’s ear, pulling out every trick he knew to get him to cry out.

A tiny knock sounded at the bedroom door, scaring Goku so much that he sat bolt upright and knocked Vegeta to the floor with a thud.

“Bubba?”

Goku let out a long, silent sigh, “Yea, ‘Ditz,” He threw Vegeta an apologetic smile, “Come on in kiddo.”

The door handle wiggled for a few seconds before Raditz swung it open, hanging onto it by the tips of her fingers, “Yer home early!” She scanned the room, eyes going wide, “And ya brought ‘Geta!” 

Goku laughed and scratched the back of his head, “That I did.”

She bounced up and down against the wall, “Are we gonna play games!?” 

“Well, ‘Ditz, We were kinda already playin’ a game, but we already started and it’s only for two people.”

Raditz sighed dramatically, tilting her head back and stamping her feet, “No fair!”

Vegeta casted a sideways glare at his boyfriend, “Actually, I think we were just finishing up,” He ignored Goku’s gaped mouth, “We can come play a game with you.”

The little girl squealed and ran down the stairs, long hair bouncing behind her.

“Vegeta?”

He shook his head, “You hurt my ass. You gotta wait until tonight now.”

Goku’s whines were ignored as Vegeta stood and followed Raditz downstairs, to where she had already set up controllers for a game Vegeta didn’t recognize. A few minutes later he could hear the clumsy stomping footsteps of Goku pouting his way down the stairs.

Vegeta had a hard time really concentrating on the game instead of his attention wandering back to Goku’s bouncing leg. He also noticed that every few seconds his eyes flicked to the clock on the wall, and in spite of himself he couldn’t keep the sly smirk off his lips.

After what felt like seven years to Goku, the front door wiggled and swung open, revealing Gine with bags of groceries looped all up her arms. 

“Hey, kids!”

“Mama!” Raditz hopped up, dropping her controller on the floor. Vegeta chuckled. She wasn’t winning by any means, but she was quite into it. It was funny to see her abandon it so easily and run off toward her mom. 

Goku followed, obviously anxious to get dinner going so he could have some _ alone time _ with Vegeta. Vegeta got up and followed Goku not far behind into the kitchen.

“Oh! Vegeta! Goku didn’t tell me you were here.” She glanced over to her son, who only shrugged guiltily. “Oh, well. One more place at the table never hurt no one.”

“Actually mom, Vegeta’s already moved in.” Goku rocked from the balls to heels of his feet.

Gine smiled, setting down the last of the groceries, “Great! It’s about time.”

Goku just smiled back, choosing not to point out that they’ve known each other for only a week. He was grateful for his parents’ open mindedness, but at times they almost seemed pushy. They were never like this with Chichi. In fact, they didn’t even like her. He made a mental note to ask about it another time. 

Gine dolled out some tasks for the three of them, thought the only thing Raditz was asked to do was to bring in a chair from storage to put at the table. Goku cut vegetables and Vegeta put out some table placements for the five of them.

Thirty minutes later Bardock came home, hanging his coat on a hook and coming to the kitchen to give his wife a kiss on the cheek. By then the food was finished and they sat at the table and served themselves dinner.

Bardock cleared his throat, patting lightly on his chest, “So, Vegeta.” Vegeta turned his head, not speaking with his mouth full but acknowledging Bardock anyway. “You’re officially moved in, huh?”

Vegeta swallowed, “Yeah, looks like it. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything at the other house, so it’s all fine for now. I think I just nod some time to settle in.”

Bardock laughed, “Yeah, the routine in this house can be a bit crazy. You’ll fit right in.”

Gine set down her fork, “It’s nice to have you in for dinner, Goku. The table is never this full.”

Goku conveniently forgot to mention that he and Vegeta actually ditched school to come home early, “I like being home,” He smiled up at her, “I’m just not here often enough anymore.”

The rest of dinner went by with not much fuss, Goku helped his mother clear the table while Bardock continued to question Vegeta about everything under the sun, specifically his family back home. Vegeta told him about his father and brother, and about how his mother had died when he was a small boy. Bardock gave him his sympathy, but he refused to feel sorry for himself. He had gotten over it years ago, no point in dwelling on it when things are good.

Goku had all but dragged him upstairs when Gine sent them off, Vegeta had trouble keeping up and not tripping over every other step. Goku all but threw him onto the bed, holding him down by the shoulders and hunching over him, face already cherry red.

“You owe me big time.”

Vegeta chuckled to himself, “I don’t owe you shit,” and yanked him down into a rough open-mouthed kiss that didn’t seem to end.

* * *

 

They laid tangled together between Goku’s bedsheets, the fabric stuck to the sweat of their legs. Vegeta curled up against Goku’s chest and rubbed his hand through the dark hair underneath it. His breath was finally slowing back to normal, the blood leaving his face and other vital areas. Goku captured his right leg between his own and ran them together. It was far too hot for a blanket, they covered in the light sheets and savored the cool feeling it brought.

“Veg?”

“Hm?”

“Ah don’t want ya to go back. Ah’ll miss ya too much.” 

Vegeta frowned. Goku sounded to dejected, but there was no way they could prevent him from having to leave at the end of the school year. They really had gotten themselves into a doomed relationship.

But strangely, Vegeta couldn’t bring himself to be sad about it. They still had nine months until Vegeta had to take the flight back to Switzerland, that was plenty of time to figure things out. They were graduating as well, so Goku didn’t have to go back to school the next year.

He could even study abroad if he wanted to. Vegeta smiled and snuggled closer to him.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it ‘Ku.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna post one chapter a day, probably. Just to give me more time to finish it up.


End file.
